Vman, the first aviation leasing company in GIFT city, started its business transaction on Wednesday, when it signed an agreement to order an Airbus H125 Helicopter.

Vman has placed an order for an Airbus H125 Helicopter to start the first lease transaction onshore. H125 has proven to be a preferred choice for heli-pilgrimage, urban air mobility, rescue, air ambulance and aerial work missions in India and globally.

Vishok Mansingh, CEO of Vman said, “Vman is focused on general aviation, aircraft and helicopters which include trainer aircraft. We are starting with helicopters and we will add general aviation aircraft in our portfolio gradually. We hope this will enable general aviation also to grow in line with commercial aviation to double digits in the near future.”

He further added that the process has started, and negotiations are on for potential clients. “We are in conversation with new potential flying training schools in India to lease the trainer aircraft.”

BusinessLine had reported in April that Vman Aviation Services IFSC was set to complete its first transaction in the next one month. The transaction is likely to cost €5.0 million for two helicopters and will be delivered by September-October.

Mansingh had then said that he expected the delivery of the asset by September-October. The transaction has cost Vman close to €5.0 million.

Economical solutions

Mansingh said that currently, one of the biggest challenges this segment faces, is access to leased equipment at reasonable costs. However, with recently announced Government initiatives, incentives, IFSCA’s policy on aircraft leasing, GIFT city infrastructure and our own extensive domestic market experience, Vman can provide economical leasing solutions to the general, business and helicopter segment in India, he said

“This will help fuel this segment’s growth on par with commercial civil aviation, provide services to new unserved markets, and generate significant employment.” said Rajarshi Sen, SVP-Leasing & CFO, Vman. “This asset has a very good value retention from an investment point of view. The global acceptability of H125 as an asset class suits the lessor as a good candidate for investment,” Sen added.

The Indian aviation industry has been dominated by lessors from Ireland and Hong Kong because it’s 48 percent more expensive to do this from India than from Ireland.

GIFT City is supposed to act like a single-window approval platform for the lessors willing to invest. This year’s budget from the Finance Ministry had also provided incentives like 10-year tax holidays, waiver of capital gain taxes on aircraft disposal during the tax-holiday period, and waiver of basic custom duty, stamp duty and withholding tax on interest payments on royalty for non-residents.