From the File

An Aircraft Industry for India

Squadron Leader P.L. Dhawan

A great variety of minerals exist in India. Though the country has large reserves in some of them, they have not been adequately explored.

However, rough estimates show that India has considerable exportable surpluses of aluminium, cerium metals, iron, magnesium, manganese, mica, titanium and vanadium. In beryl, carbon, chromium, molybdenium, rubber, silicon, tungsten, and zircon, she is self-sufficient, She is not, however, in a position to produce sufficient quantities of copper and is entirely dependent on imports for antimony, lead, nickel and tin. Surveys have revealed deposits of lead and zinc ores, which, it is reported, can be worked with encouraging results. India’s mineral resources are adequate enough to support an aircraft industry of sizeable proportions.

Apart from iron and steel, of which current outputs are well below demand, it would be by and large, correct to say that India is industrialized enough to provide the raw materials for the aircraft industry from indigenous mineral resources. To cope with the rising demand, the Government has already taken steps to set up two factories, each designed to produce one million tons of steel a year. At the same time, the existing factories are being assisted by the Government to extend their capacity and the extraction and processing of lead and zinc within the country is also being considered.

India is relatively backward in engineering industries and the production of machine tools. During the war, some progress was made in the manufacture of machine tools of various kinds ranging from simple drills and lathes to special purpose machines required in the production of munition. Since then many other industries such as bicycles, electric fans, sewing machines, automobiles accessories, springs, radiators and so forth, have been set up. In fact, the country has an exportable surplus in many of these goods.

Industries for the production of ball and roller bearings, rubber goods, electrical goods, instruments, locomotives, automobiles, diesel engines, textile machinery, etc. also exit. In the course of the next two to three years, India will have become self-sufficient in many of these items. Other industries for the manufacture of internal combustion engines, tractors, machine tools, light and heavy machinery are envisaged in the First Five Year Plan. A machine tools prototype factory has already been established at Ambernath and another to produce high-precision machine tools at Jalahalli. These factories will provide the basis for the subsequent expansion of light and heavy engineering industries.

The Mathematical Instruments Office in Calcutta manufactures mechanical, optical, electrical and aircraft precision instruments. Its work is supplemented by the U.P. Precision Instruments Factory set up in more recent times. India’s chemical industry has developed rapidly under the Government’s policy of protection and is being further developed under the Five Year Plan. A number of radio spares are now manufactured by various firms in India. The manufacture of radio and radar equipment, certain types of radio valves and components is expected to commence in India in 1956. Under a contract entered into by the Government with a French firm, a factory, which will manufacture a wide range of wireless and radar equipment, will be established. It will ultimately be able to meet a major portion of the requirements of the Armed Forces as well as of the Central and State Governments.