New Delhi: Aviation will be among the bright spots that will create jobs for the country, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the India Economic Summit 2017 organized by World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at IIT-Delhi, Sinha said economy was “going through a paradigm shift” and that there is a lot of innovation happening.
“Every time a new economic cycle starts, it’s not the old industries that really power it, it’s the new industry,” he said, “Don’t look at IT services and business process outsourcing (BPO), that industry is maturing. Look at aviation, for example, or renewable energies or medical technology, that’s where the new growth is going to come from”.
The Economic Survey of 2016-17 had also called civil aviation in India a potential sunrise sector for growth and added that the divestment of Air India Ltd will help the sector expand further.
“Civil aviation is a potential sector in the country which can be a sunrise sector of growth. Our country has favourable conditions which are highly conducive for the sector’s growth, i.e. favourable demographics, a rising middle class population, high disposable incomes, and faster economic growth,” the survey had said.
Domestic air traffic in India has been growing at about 20% annually and international traffic at 10%.
Indian aviation provides direct employment to 220,000 people besides lakhs of indirect jobs. This figure will double by 2026-27, according to aviation consulting firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).