India hopes to leverage its tariff concessions to the European Union (EU) to press for mutual recognition of aircraft maintenance certification, an official familiar with the plan said.
The aviation ministry will nudge the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to accept certifications issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), especially for Indian maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), the official cited above said on the condition of anonymity. This would align India’s aviation safety standards with the EU’s, and make EASA certification process easy.
A positive response from EU will allow India’s MRO facilities to supply parts to European-made planes and service them in India, a lucrative upgrade from their primary work of routine checks and quick repairs at airport gates. The move will also help the country save on valuable foreign exchange outflows.
India currently has around 149 DGCA-certified MROs, but only about 10 of them have EASA certification or reciprocal approvals from the European regulator. While DGCA certifies an MRO as a whole, EU certifications are offering-specific, meaning every facility, engine type and nature of service has to be separately certified.
“So, we offer this as a bouquet offering of sorts. We are bringing down duties on certain products for EU, and as a reciprocal gesture, they take up our cause and harmonize standards, so that certification of Indian MROs happen. This is like a bargaining chip we are using,” the official said.
The aviation ministry has been discussing the proposal with the department of commerce as part of the broader FTA framework, the official said.
India and the EU on Tuesday concluded protracted trade discussions to unite a market of nearly two billion people. The FTA, billed as the “mother of all deals”, will eliminate or significantly reduce tariffs on over 90% of traded goods, including critical slashes to duties on European cars and spirits in exchange for unprecedented market access for Indian textiles and services.
Currently, nearly 95% of line and base maintenance—routine checks and quick repairs at airports—is carried out in India. But the major work on engine and component maintenance, which is more complex and lucrative, is largely done overseas because of certification hurdles. For context, India does not do MRO work for wide-bodied Boeing jets. These are generally sent outside of India for maintenance work.
Airbus already provides its own extensive MRO services and technical support in India to cater to its growing fleet. The European consortium has partnered with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to establish a heavy maintenance facility for the A320 family in Nashik and collaborates with Indamer for helicopter maintenance.
While regulations remain the same, processes are very different between DGCA and EASA, said Sharad Agarwal, chief executive officer (CEO) of AIESL, India’s largest and only state-backed MRO. “The EASA has a more detailed process. For instance, you need certification for every engine type separately, and so on. If harmonized with EASA, more MROs will get certification,” Agarwal said. The AIESL has two facilities, at Thiruvananthapuram and Nagpur.
India accounts for about 10% of the global MRO market, but policymakers believe that harmonization with European standards could unlock a far larger share by allowing Indian firms to service not just domestic fleets but also foreign aircraft operating in the region.
In August 2025, civil aviation minister Murlidhar Mohol informed the Parliament that the MRO sector in India is projected to reach $4 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 8.9%, against the global average of 5.6%.
