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Good Morning. While headlines on the aviation sector focus on the more visible areas, such as massive aircraft orders and new terminals, they leave out a big problem the sector has been facing for a while. The industry is reaching a point where expansion alone is no longer a viable strategy for success, maintaining these aircraft is a crucial part of it. For that, we need hangars, and India just doesn't have enough of them.

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Monday. The BSE Sensex closed at 85,439.62, down 322.39 points or 0.38%. The NSE Nifty 50 closed at 26,250.30, down 78.25 points or 0.3%.

In other news, US president Donald Trump threatens India with more tariffs. Meanwhile, iPhone exports from India continue to boom.

India’s Aviation Boom Has A Hangar Problem

What? 

India’s aviation boom has a critical blind spot. As airlines add aircraft and airports add terminals, the infrastructure that keeps those aircraft in shape — hangars and maintenance facilities — is falling behind. 

A recent memorandum of understanding between Tata Projects Ltd (TPL) and Singapore‑based ASI (Aircraft Support Industries) Global to design and construct aircraft maintenance facilities in India has unlocked one of the most overlooked pillars of India’s aviation ecosystem. 

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to design and construct aircraft maintenance facilities in India.

The partnership signals the start of a long‑delayed shift. From 2026 onwards, India’s aviation story will no longer be just about aircraft orders and route maps. It will increasingly be about the infrastructure that keeps those aircraft flying. 

“India requires at least three to four large MROs within a decade and a half valued at around $6 billion,” Rahul Sharma, executive vice president at the Urban Spaces Strategic Business Unit in Tata Projects, told The Core. Without enough hangars, aircraft sit exposed, checks get delayed, capacity stays constrained, and operators are forced to send work abroad. 

Why Hangars Matter

India is expanding fleet capacity faster than it is building the maintenance backbone required to sustain it. The result is a growing hangar deficit across civil and defence aviation. 

It exposes aircraft to weather and corrosion, delays heavy maintenance, forces airlines to send work abroad, and sustains a costly dependence on foreign MROs. With wide-body inductions accelerating and defence fleets modernising, the hangar gap is going from an operational inconvenience to a strategic risk.

For years, limited budgets and a relatively small commercial fleet meant India could manage with minimal hangar infrastructure. Line maintenance was often carried out in the open, while major checks for aircraft were done overseas. That model isn’t working anymore. 

“Airports-especially greenfield ones- must plan for hangars from day one. Too often, they realise too late that hangars are essential,” said Sharma. 

From 2026, the market for maintenance‑grade hangars is entering a decisive growth phase. The entry of credible players is pulling hangars and maintenance out of the “side‑business” shadows.

Tariff Threats Resurface

The US may raise tariffs on India if it fails to curb purchases of Russian oil, President Donald Trump said Sunday, escalating pressure on New Delhi as trade negotiations remain stalled. Trump said Washington could move “very quickly” on tariffs, signalling growing impatience over India’s energy ties with Moscow.

The Shift: The comments came a day after US forces captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, underscoring Washington’s increasingly assertive stance on energy and geopolitics. Trump has openly framed US actions in energy-rich regions as critical to securing long-term supply. The US last year doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, citing India’s continued buying of discounted Russian crude, a move that has strained bilateral trade talks and heightened uncertainty for exporters.

Fast Facts: India’s import of Russian crude shot up after the war began in 2022, as it was discounted after sanctions from the West. It increased from 2.5% of imports before 2022 to around 35.8% in 2024-25. After the US punitive tariffs, Russia's contribution to Indian crude imports fell from 37.9% in the last fiscal year to 33.7% in the current one. On the other hand, oil imports increased from the US — 4.3% during April-Nov 2024 to 7.6%, during the same period in the current fiscal year.

December Auto Sales Surge

India’s auto sector posted strong double-digit growth in wholesale volumes in December 2025, driven by GST cuts and improved consumer sentiment, with retail demand remaining resilient across segments even after the festive season, Kotak Institutional Securities said in a report. Exports also gained traction across commercial vehicles, tractors and two-wheelers, prompting expectations of upward revisions to FY26 volume forecasts.

Context: Kotak’s estimates suggest passenger vehicle wholesales rose more than 25% year-on-year, with retail volumes up about 30%. Maruti Suzuki’s volumes grew 22%, led by domestic demand, while Mahindra & Mahindra posted 23% growth. Hyundai recorded marginal gains.

Setup: Two-wheeler wholesales climbed over 30%, while commercial vehicle and tractor segments rose over 20% and 30%, respectively, aided by subsidies and rural recovery.

Apple’s India Export Boom

Apple Inc. in December 2025 crossed the $50 billion mark of exporting iPhones through its Indian vendors under the government’s smartphone production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, The Economic Times reported. Exports are set to rise further, with three months still left in Apple’s five-year PLI tenure. In the first nine months of FY26 alone, iPhone exports touched nearly $16 billion.

Overview: Samsung, Apple’s closest global rival, exported about $17 billion worth of mobile phones during its five-year PLI period from FY21 to FY25.

Setting: iPhones now account for about 75% of India’s smartphone exports, making the category the country’s top export item in FY25. While the PLI scheme ends in March, the government plans continued support, citing competitiveness gaps with China and Vietnam.

New Boss, Same Skies

Air India is looking for a new chief executive to replace Campbell Wilson, sources told Reuters. Separately, The Economic Times reported that Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran has held talks with the heads of two major international carriers based in the UK and the US.

Catch Up Quick: The move comes months after a deadly Air India crash that killed 260 people, triggering closer regulatory scrutiny. More recently, Canadian authorities barred an Air India pilot from flying after he failed a breathalyser test.

Why It Matters: In a year-ender published last week, The Core found that while internal safety practices have tightened, India’s aviation regulations have seen little structural change since the crash.

✍️ Zinal Dedhia, Kudrat Wadhwa, Shubhangi Bhatia | ✂️ Rohini Chatterji | 🎧 Joshua Thomas

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