Engine maker GE Aerospace plans to increase the sourcing of components from India, a senior company official has said.

The company has a manufacturing facility in Pune and the John F Welch Technology Centre in Bengaluru. Currently, it has 13 major suppliers, including Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL).

Mahendra Nair, group vice-president for commercial programs at GE Aerospace, said India’s contribution to the supply chain will increase.

“We have got some verycapable companies in India with the right engineering talent, the right production footprint and as long as they can meet the technical standards that we are looking for, it is only upside and it is going to grow.”

“India is a market that is going to grow and that makes sense for us to continue sourcing more from India,” Nair said.

Vikram Rai, South Asia chief executive officer of GE Aerospace, said the company’s sourcing has gone up 20 times during the 2018 to 2022 period.

About the global supply chain situation, Nair said the situation across the aerospace industry is “tough”.

“It is going to take at least another two years before the supply chain gets better. The reason is the demand on the supply chain is growing 25 per cent every year.

“Even in a constrained environment we are seeing right now, it is still an output of 25 per cent more than last year. If you were to keep the demand the same, you could have seen a dramatic improvement but demand is going up 25 per cent every year. It includes OEM demand, airframe demand as well as the service demand,” he said.

GE Aerospace also has an equal joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines, which powers many narrow-body planes in India.

Currently, around 1,300 engines of GE Aerospace and CFM are used in various planes of Indian carriers.

Also, GE Aerospace’s defence engines and systems power the Indian Airforce’s Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk1, helicopters and the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier battleships and frigates.

The company has around 3,000 employees in India.

PTI