Spain is eyeing a slot in IT City’s aerospace park

The European nation is keen on a presence in Bangalore as it views the city as a research and development hub in aerospace technology in India

One of the biggies in the aerospace industry, Spain, is looking at setting up a base in the IT city. It is eyeing the upcoming aerospace park next to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli.

The state-of-the-art 985-acre facility is being developed by the state industries and commerce department. It also has a 252-acre Special Economic Zone in its premises. 

The aerospace park has already got investors and project proposals from HAL, Jupiter Aviation, Dynamic Technologies, Centum Electronics, AMADA, BEML, Wipro, Tyco and Aero Electronics Private Limited.

With Bangalore being a hub for research and development in aerospace technology in India, Spain is keen on a presence and had initiated talks when its ambassador visited the city recently. 

Surbhi Sharma, honorary consul of Spain, told Bangalore Mirror, “With Bangalore being the centre of R&D in aerospace, Spanish companies’ priority would be to set up a base here. Spain is in the forefront in aerospace industry and its first choice of investment in aerospace sector would be Bangalore.’’

Like India, even Spain is an important part of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company(EADS), a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading global defence and military contractor. The EADS stable includes the Airbus commercial aircraft, Airbus military covering tanker, transport and mission aircraft. EADS is a major supplier to the Indian commercial aviation sector. More than 180 Airbus aircraft were delivered by 2010-end.

The Karnataka government has signed an MoU with Sunforest City, one of the world’s biggest promoters of aerospace parks, to set up one in Bangalore. Sunforest City is negotiating with several international aircraft manufacturing giants like Boeing, chopper firms in Russia and logistic partners to invest in Bangalore.

Bangalore Aerospace Park is targeting investments up to $5 billion dollars spread over the next nine years. The Karnataka government is banking big-time on this mega-project as the aerospace industry is the highest employment multiplier.

“Spain is an important part of Airbus manufacturing process and also a strong EADS player. The Spanish consul in Bangalore is already in talks with Sunforest City. They may look at manufacturing aviation components or outsourcing components and assembling them here,” M N Vidyashankar, principal secretary, industries and commerce department, told Bangalore Mirror.

The government has asked Sunforest City to submit a detailed project report and implementation plan for aerospace park.” The state provides land and it is up to the park promoter to get investment and in turn pave the way for job creation. On an average, manufacturing/assembling one civilian aircraft generates 2,500 jobs,” Vidyashankar added.