Wake up Karnataka: Aerospace jobs are flying away

Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are sprinting ahead, while Karnataka stands quietly on the sidelines, watching golden opportunities cross its borders one after another. Just this week, the Rolls-Royce and HAL joint venture, named International Aerospace Manufacturing Private Limited or IAMPL, inaugurated a much bigger 12-acre factory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, with a fresh investment of around £30 million (about ₹320 crore). This is the third co-owned aero-engine plant Rolls-Royce now runs there. Inside this modern unit, skilled hands make tiny but powerful compressor and turbine parts. In simple words, the compressor squeezes air tightly, while the turbine spins at lightning speed to push the plane forward. These parts truly form the beating heart of passenger planes and fighter jets.

The painful part for us Kannadigas is this. Hosur sits barely an hour from Bengaluru. Thousands of engineers, technicians and workers travel from our city every single day. They use Bengaluru's roads, buses, hostels, colleges, hospitals and talent pool. But the taxes, jobs, GST and long-term growth all land in Tamil Nadu's pocket. We are silently powering somebody else's success story.

Now Andhra Pradesh has also pulled off a massive coup. India's next dream machine, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft or AMCA, our very own fifth-generation stealth fighter, will be assembled in Puttaparthi. The Andhra cabinet has cleared 600 acres free of cost to DRDO. Around 140 AMCA jets are planned, with total investment touching nearly ₹1 lakh crore. The foundation stone is expected to be laid on May 15 in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Big private giants like Tata Advanced Systems, Larsen & Toubro and Bharat Forge will join hands. The first prototype is targeted by 2027, maiden flight by 2028, and induction into the Indian Air Force by 2034.

Here too, the cruel irony is that the actual design, testing and module assembly of AMCA will be done in Bengaluru by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). Our scientists will sweat for years, our talent will sharpen the technology, but the shining factory, the jobs and the ecosystem will bloom in Puttaparthi. Once again Bengaluru is the brain, and somebody else gets the body.

Why is this happening? Other Chief Ministers are simply more alert. Tamil Nadu Former CM M.K. Stalin visited the UK last year and personally locked in Rolls-Royce's expansion. Tamil Nadu offers quick approvals, attractive incentives, steady power, smooth roads and a warm, business-friendly attitude. Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu chased the AMCA project for over eleven months, finally winning it through aggressive lobbying with the Centre. Puttaparthi was chosen because of its quiet airstrip, free airspace and closeness to ADA in Bengaluru. Karnataka's leadership, sadly, has not matched this kind of hunger.

Senior Rolls-Royce leader Sashi Mukundan has called the Hosur plant a "model factory" worldwide and confirmed the company will source ten times more from India in coming years. IAMPL also supports Jaguar fighters and Hawk trainers of the Indian Air Force, strengthening our Atmanirbhar Bharat dream. Yet, Bengaluru, the original aerospace capital of India for decades, is slowly losing its crown.

This pain is real for ordinary Kannadiga families. Thousands of high-salary technical jobs that could have lifted middle-class homes are vanishing across the border. Young engineers from our colleges dream of working on jets near their parents, not in some far-off city. Small businesses – tea stalls, hostels, cab drivers, house owners, hotels – lose steady income when big factories settle elsewhere. The state too loses precious revenue that could have funded better schools and hospitals.

Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah know this danger well. When project after project leaves the state, from where will the money flow for Gruha Lakshmi, Shakti free bus travel, Anna Bhagya and other welfare guarantees? Sadly, political energy seems stuck in caste maths and old vote-bank games, instead of attracting investments and creating new jobs. Slow land clearances, unpredictable rules, weak incentives and political tussles are quietly pushing companies away.

Karnataka still has unmatched strengths – HAL, ISRO, BEL, DRDO labs, top engineering colleges, world-class private companies and lakhs of brilliant minds. But strengths on paper mean nothing without action on ground. The government must wake up urgently. Faster approvals, ready industrial land, generous incentives, stable politics and one strong message to global investors: "Karnataka is open, ready and welcoming."

Every Kannadiga family deserves to feel proud when world giants invest in our soil. Our youth deserve real jet-age opportunities near home. India's strong skies need every state to soar together. Karnataka must act now, before more dreams quietly fly across the border, perhaps forever.

(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst)