First Tata-made copter cabin ready for export from AP SEZ

The first helicopter cabin manufactured by Tata Advanced Systems Ltd at the aerospace special economic zone SEZ in Ranga Reddy district on the outskirts of the Andhra Pradesh capital of Hyderabad will be delivered next week to US helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft, for its Sikorsky-92 copter.

Tatas had set up a helicopter manufacturing facility at the aerospace SEZ to manufacture cabins for the Sikorsky-92 helicopters which would be exported to the US on 23 November, with two more scheduled to be delivered by the year-end.

Tata Group of Industries chairman Ratan Tata is likely to meet chief minister K Rosaiah on 7 November here in this connection. He is also likely to discuss further investments, according to the chief minister's office.

The functioning and progress of the country's first aerospace and precision engineering SEZ set up on a 500-acre site at Nadargul and Adibhatla villages was reviewed by the chief minister on Sunday. He said that with a little more emphasis and push, the state could overtake Gujarat and Maharashtra in terms of investment and industrialisation in the near future. Andhra Pradesh had laid down an ambitious roadmap for attracting global investments and technology partners to make the aerospace SEZ emerge as a major destination for the aviation industry not only in India but across Asia, he said.

Rosaiah claimed that industry and agriculture were the two eyes of his government and hence both were being given equal prominence and promoted vigorously. "Whatever be the developments in the coming days, I assure every investor and industrialist that the state government is firmly behind them and is committed to supporting them with a secured and tension-free environment," he said.

Meanwhile, automobile giant Mahindra & Mahindra also proposes to set up an aerospace project at the aerospace SEZ, envisaging an investment of around Rs300 crore.