‘In five years, India will break into the
world’s top five aviation markets’
BUSINESS
India Abroad
April 2, 2010
AZIZ HANIFFA
India’s Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel
last week said that in the next five years,
India will be among the top five aviation
markets in the world.
Patel, keynoting Air India’s ‘Capital to
Capital Connectivity: Bringing Washington
and Delhi Closer’ celebration, said, “In
2004, when I came to this office, India was
not recognized in the world of aviation. But
in a short span of time, we have now
become the ninth largest aviation market in
the world. And within five years, we will
break into the top five aviation markets in
the world.”
Patel predicted the same kind of exponen-
tial growth for aviation in India as the one
witnessed by the country’s telecom market.
He said, “Twenty years ago, the most sought
after thing in India was a telephone connec-
tion. Today, India is the largest and fastest
developing telecom market.”
Turning to Dinesh Keskar, president
Boeing India, Patel quipped, “This is going
to be music to your ears. If only 10 percent of
Indians fly once a year, we will require more
than 2,000 planes in the next five years.”
He added that along with Air India’s
growth, he would like to see other Indian
carriers’ growth into the United States. He
hoped that a lot more US carriers would also
If even 10 percent of Indians fly once a year, India will require more than 2,000 planes in the next five years
PUNI T PARANJPE/REU TERS Indian aviation on GPS radar
fly into India. “We must be mindful of the
fact that there is only one Open Skies agree-
ment that India has signed with any country
and that is with the US. That shows how
much we value the US-India relationship.”
Asked if the delivery schedule of the
Boeing aircraft that Air India had purchased
was being met, Patel said, “Boeing is going
to pay compensation for the delay of the
787.”
Praful Patel also met Commerce Secre-
tary Gary Locke and Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss how
to take the 2007 US-India Aviation
Cooperation Program to the next level.
As part of this program, India’s aviation
sector will have a Global Positioning
System satellite based navigation in
place next year, Patel said. With this,
India will join the select few countries
in the world that have satellite-based
navigation. “This will shorten our air
routes especially at a time when global
warming and other environmental
issues are paramount,” he added.
‘India is proud to be the pharmacy of the poor’
AZIZ HANIFFA
In his interactions during his visit to
Washington, DC last month, India’s
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand
Sharma minced no words in defending the
country’s generic pharmaceuticals industry.
He lashed back when the quality of
India’s generic medicines — which have
threatened the multinationals’ monopoly
on cholesterol controlling and diabetes
drugs and anti-retrovirals that fight
HIV/AIDS — were questioned.
“The arrival of Indian generics changed
the global discourse and ensured the avail-
ability of life-saving medicines to poor peo-
ple, particularly medicines required to fight
pandemics,” said Sharma. “I am talking of
ARVs and medicines for malaria and tuber-
culosis.”
He recalled that this issue was fought in
Africa too. At that time, ARVs used to cost
$12,000 for one patient for one year.
Indian generics brought it down to $1,000
and today it is less than $400. “Yes, there
was a hue and cry from established compa-
nies who had a suffocating stranglehold,
but India is proud to be known as the dis-
pensary or the pharmacy of the poor,” he
said.
Anand Sharma tries out a Tata Nano at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York
PARESH GANDHI
