Government has eased the norms to support aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul industry.
In addition to uniform 5 per cent goods and services tax rate announced earlier, the government in its budget proposed an extension of period of export of goods which are imported into India for repairs.
“This is a welcome and long awaited move,” said Sharad Agarwal, CEO of AI Engineering Services Limited.
Agarwal explained that typical turnaround time for an engine in overhaul shop is three months
“At times, due to unforeseen defects observed, there is a need to order further spares, which may have long lead time and the engines invariably gets delayed beyond six months. We also may face a situation, where an engine may have to wait for a slot for induction into the shop. The proposed move is going to highly beneficial for the industry,” Agarwal said.
Along with reforms for MROs, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will provide an efficient and flexible mode for financing leasing of aircrafts and ships, and pooled funds of private equity through a ‘variable company structure.