India’s renewed push inevitably invites comparison with China, although Naidu did not mention COMAC or suggest that India intends to develop an immediate competitor to the Airbus A320neo or Boeing 737 MAX.

China established Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, in 2008 and has since developed the ARJ21 regional aircraft and the larger C919. The C919 is China’s first domestically developed narrowbody aimed at the market dominated by Airbus and Boeing.

India is starting from a different position. Its current proposals centre largely on manufacturing or assembling existing foreign-designed regional aircraft, while its own indigenous programmes remain focused on much smaller types.