Chennai-Bengaluru corridor to get aero hub

CHENNAI: The Union Budget may have made no mention of the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC) but efforts are on to give wings to the plan.
At a summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Chennai on Wednesday, state government officials mooted the concept of creating an aerospace hub along the corridor. “The Bengaluru-Chennai-Hyderabad region is considered an aerospace triangle in India and Indian aerospace manufacturing capabilities are gaining maturity,” said a senior official of TIDCO (Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation).
He added that a techno-economic feasibility study was completed recently for creating aeroparks across multiple locations. “An exclusive policy is on the anvil for the aerospace industry,” he said.
CBIC was mooted in the previous Budget, presented by the UPA-led government, as a means to boost trade and economic development in the regions through which it runs.
The investment potential in the corridor is more than $1 billion with the area expected to have industrial clusters in agro and food processing, auto and auto components, textiles, IT&ITES, electronics hardware and renewable energy.
Industry sources said the government is keen to set the ball rolling on the corridor before the Global Investors Summit in May 2015. “This would encourage investment in the region by foreign investors who come for the summit,” S N Eisenhower, vice-chairman, CII Tamil Nadu, said.