Ratan Tata

New Capabilities

Legacy project realized posthumously

For decades, India's aerospace manufacturing remained almost entirely in government hands. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the state-owned monopoly established in 1940, built every military aircraft and helicopter on Indian soil. On February 17, 2026, that era effectively ended when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated India's first private-sector helicopter assembly line—a Tata-Airbus facility in Karnataka that will manufacture the H125, Airbus's best-selling single-engine helicopter.

Updated Feb 17