New Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Safran Aircraft Engine Services India (SAESI) facility at Hyderabad via video-conferencing on Wednesday.

SAESI is Safran's dedicated maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for LEAP (Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion) engines, which power the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

The establishment of this facility marks a significant milestone, as it is not only one of the largest global aircraft engine MRO facilities but also marks the first time that a global engine OEM (original equipment manufacturer) has set up an MRO operation in India, an official statement said.

Spread across 45,000 square metres within the GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park-SEZ, the state-of-the-art facility has been developed with an initial investment of around Rs 1,300 crore.

Designed to service up to 300 LEAP engines annually, the SAESI facility will employ more than 1,000 highly-skilled Indian technicians and engineers upon achieving full operational capacity by 2035.

The facility will feature advanced process equipment to deliver world-class engine maintenance and repair services.

The MRO facility will be a huge step towards the goal of self-reliance in the aviation sector, the statement said.

Developing indigenous capabilities in MRO will reduce foreign-exchange outflows, create high-value employment, strengthen supply-chain resilience and position India as a global aviation hub, it added.

The government is actively working to build a robust MRO ecosystem to support the sector's rapid growth, it said.

Key policy initiatives of the government -- including the Goods and Services tax (GST) reforms of 2024, the MRO Guidelines-2021 and the National Civil Aviation Policy-2016 -- have simplified operations for MRO providers by rationalising tax structures and reducing royalty burdens, the statement noted.