CAPA India signs MoU to Co-Develop Aerospace & Helicopter City at GVIC

The aerospace park will form one of the industry clusters at the Gujarat Vittal Innovation City (GVIC), which comprises 2,800 acres at Valsad in Gujarat, one of India's most dynamic states. The development, which is supported by the state government, and has in-principle Special Economic Zone status, is just 2 hours drive from Mumbai.

CAPA will bring together leading international aerospace operators, manufacturers and service providers. Global companies are increasingly looking at India as a potential outsourcing destination that can deliver best practice engineering at competitive benchmarks.
India's pre-eminence as a leading science and technology nation makes it an ideal base for research and development. The objective will be to encourage innovation in areas such as aircraft design and modification; aerodynamic modeling; structural analysis; composite materials and software development.

Another key focus will be a world first Helicopter City, a unique facility which will support the entire spectrum of manufacturing, sales and support services for rotary craft.

"India's demonstrated ability to deliver high quality research and manufacturing in various industries at relatively lower cost is a unique and valuable proposition. By transferring these strengths to the aerospace sector there exists the potential to position India as a global centre for excellence. We are very excited to have been asked to support this landmark initiative" stated Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Mr Nagarajan Vittal, Chairman, GVIC, remarked "we look forward to jointly developing with CAPA a state-of-the art Aerospace Enclave within GVIC, which will bring together all elements of the aerospace value chain, from research and development, manufacturing, maintenance and ancillary support. All underpinned by skilled human resources developed through the co-location of high quality education and training institutions.

Mr Vittal added, "we have been greatly inspired and encouraged in this venture by our partners, the Government of Gujarat, especially the Honourable Chief Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and his Chief Secretary, Shri Rajagopalan."

The objective of GVIC is to create a world class environment for working, living and learning. High quality infrastructure and amenities, developed by the Korea Land Corporation, are designed to attract the leading organisations from around the world. Aside from aerospace, other industrial zones to be developed at GVIC will focus on precision engineering, pharmaceuticals, bio-technology, alternate energies and digital media. The Master Plan projects that close to US$2.5 billion will be invested in the project over 8 years, creating employment for up to 100,000 people.