Indian Rotorcraft is pleased to announce that a ground breaking ceremony was held today at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, marking the start of construction of a new helicopter production facility and a new step in the development of the Indian aerospace industry.

The ground breaking ceremony was conducted in the presence of Mr. Ratan N Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons; Mr. Bruno Spagnolini, CEO, AgustaWestland and other dignitaries.

Indian Rotorcraft is a joint venture company formed by Tata Sons and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, that will assemble, customise and flight test new helicopters for the worldwide market. The joint venture will initially start to produce the 8-seat AW119Ke light helicopter, with production commencing from mid-2013.

Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, said at the ceremony "The project is integral to our plans in the aerospace sector and we look forward to an enduring and successful partnership with AgustaWestland for fostering the growth of the Indian aerospace sector."

Mr. Bruno Spagnolini, CEO of AgustaWestland added "We are very pleased through our joint venture with Tata Sons to be playing an important role in the development of the Indian aerospace industry. Not only will this new facility be able to build helicopters for the Indian market but importantly it will supply helicopters to AgustaWestland customers around the world."

He added "Indian Rotorcraft will initially create jobs for more than 70 highly skilled staff who will be trained by AgustaWestland. We see great potential to expand this facility in the future to become a support centre and production centre for other helicopter types."

The facility is being built on a 10 acre (40,000 m2) site adjacent to the Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and will include a 9,000 m2 (97,000 ft2) building incorporating a main assembly building, flight hangar, office accommodation and outside several helicopter landing pads. The facility will be capable of producing up to 30 helicopters per year and is designed to be further developed for other helicopter types, right up to the 16-ton AW101