Mahindra & Mahindra gets nod to sell Australia made planes

Melbourne: Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group will now be able to sell its Australia-made aircraft in India, with the civil aviation ministry approving its long-pending proposal after amending relevant rules. “The aviation ministry has on Tuesday cleared a few norms for certification, which will finally allow us to sell our Australian planes in India,” Mahindra Group CMD Anand Mahindra said. “We bought an Australia (aerospace) company and we are selling our planes in California, but due to a rule to do with seating capacity for piston engine plane, we were not able to sell in India,” Mr Mahindra, who was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s CEO delegation to Australia, said.

 

The aircraft, popularly known as Mahindra Gipps planes, are utility planes having seating capacities ranging from 5 to 10 seats. In New Delhi, ministry sources said the type certification for the single piston engine aircraft, given by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), was accepted by the Indian regulator DGCA.The approval was stuck for long due to problems relating to certification for such aircraft to fly nine passengers, besides crew, instead of four which was allowed under Indian regulations.

 

“We have now amended our rules to be on par with international certification standards and the permission has been granted,” a source said. In 2009, Mahindra group had announced its intention to be a big player in the aerospace business by acquiring 75.1 per cent stake each in two Australian aerospace firms for Rs 175 crore as part of its plans to manufacture aircraft and allied components to service global market. Since then it had started selling its aircraft in some markets, but was unable to do so in India due to regulatory issues. Its aircraft are already flying in the Middle-East and Australia.

 

Praising the Modi government for creating an environment conducive to do business, the Mahindra Group chairman said, “After the new government came into power, every roadblock was removed without undue haste and with respect and regards to new process.”He further said if the Prime Minister’s initiative of ‘Make in India’ succeeds, there would be immense potential for doing business with Australia as India would require raw materials on a massive scale.