India's first aerospace special economic zone in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, Oct 15: India's first special economic zone (SEZ) on aerospace and precision engineering will come up near here, with the state government saying the Tata Group would locate its defence and aerospace activities there.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy unveiled the SEZ's foundation stone Wednesday at the inaugural of India Aviation 2008, the country's first international conference and exhibition on civil aviation.

The SEZ will be spread over 350 acres at Adhibatla village near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, about 40 km from here.

"The Tatas are going to have a major role in this SEZ," Reddy said.

"Ratan Tata (Tata Group chairman) recently wrote to me saying the Tata Group has decided to locate its newly-formed defence and aerospace activity in Hyderabad, which will be the centre point of one of the largest new hi-tech activitities which Tata Group is entering," he said.

The SEZ will have activities like civil, defence aircraft component manufacturing, aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, test laboratories and training, design and development aerospace, satellites and missiles.

Players in the aerospace sector have come together and formed Samuha Engineering Industries Ltd to promote the SEZ.

Samuha and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corp have entered into an agreement for the SEZ, which is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs.

--IANS