By Arjun Sen

US-based Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Europe's Airbus Industrie, Thales and Eurocopter, the Brazilian Hawker Beechcraft, Canada's Bombardier and some other aviation companies have stepped up their sales pitch in India, since markets elsewhere, including China, have either gone dry or are facing a slowdown.

Even international carriers, otherwise busy rationalising routes and cutting down their operations to many countries, are adding more destinations in India - notably Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Emirates.

"The entire world now thinks India is the place to grow and we are very much focussed on the Indian market as our business here can grow to as much as $1 billion in the next few years," said Fred A. Treyz III of US giant Raytheon.

"China may be growing too, but most American aviation companies who also have a presence in the defence sector are not allowed to do business with the Chinese companies; so we have to focus on India," Treyz, who is the company's director of business development and strategic planning, told IANS.

"Much of the world is flat or declining. Only India is growing," said Daniel J. Magoon, director of Indian business development, transportation and security solutions with Lockheed Martin.

"We want to become the supplier of choice for air traffic control and security systems," Magoon said, adding that his job was to change the company's business mix in India from major supplier of wares to the defence sector to gaining a foothold in the civil aviation space.

With India's flight penetration at a mere 0.2 per capita, compared to 2.2 in the US and 1.2 in China, and with only 40 busy airports serving a population of more than a billion, companies like Lockheed and Raytheon see a huge growth potential here.

And it was none other than Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who said that India offers a $300 billion market by 2020 for new aircraft, infrastructure and air traffic control, navigation and security systems.

The ministry has given a go ahead for the upgrade or airports not only in the four metros - New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - but 36 others in smaller cities. This offers opportunities to a host of aviation-related companies.

Similarly, with India boasting a fleet of 806 civilian aircraft and 193 helicopters, another market exists for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) units - a market estimated at $1.07 billion annually by 2013, from $405 million now.

Recently, the state-run National Aviation Company of India, the company that owns Air India, and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, or EADS that owns Airbus Industrie, signed a joint venture agreement to set up an MRO unit in the national capital.

As aviation infrastructure suppliers slug it out for the Indian market, aircraft makers, too, see India as the place to grow. Bell Helicopter, for example, took 52 years to sell its first 100 choppers in India but now expects to sell the next 100 in less than five years.

"India is our fastest growing market," said Greg Hubbard, director of communications for Bell Helicopter, which claims a 52 percent market share in the chopper market, followed closely by Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter with 40 percent.

"We believe that the helicopter market in the country has the potential of doubling in the next few years," said Norbert Ducrot, Eurocopter's senior vice president for sales and marketing in Asia.

India is also a hot market for corporate and business jets. Outside the US, India is the second largest market after Brazil for Hawker Beechcraft, said Sean McGeough, the company's vice president, international sales.

Despite being a little slow to take off, Montreal-based Bombardier, another leading manufacturer of business jets, now has three sales representatives in India and will also set up a regional customer support office for the subcontinent next year.

"The potential for Bombardier as a regional carrier in this market is vast and it is our hope and expectation to build on that in the months and years to come," Bombardier's senior adviser John Arnone said recently.

But what about the current woes of Indian carriers?

The two major commercial aircraft manufacturing giants Airbus and Boeing think it is a temporary aberration, which should soon correct itself. For both these companies, the order books are heavily loaded in India's favour.

"There is now too much overcapacity but the potential for growth in India is huge," said Kiran Rao, Airbus' executive vice-president, sales and marketing.

"If the Indian economy is growing at seven-eight percent, then air traffic growth will be 14-15 percent. So we are very much focussed on India," he said.

Dinesh A. Keskar, Boeing's senior vice president of sales of commercial airplanes, shares the perception.

"India is the growth story of the world and it is going to be the future."