Small and midsize companies are extraordinarily important: Jayant Sinha

At the Fortune India Next 500 summit in Gurugram, union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha talks about his ministry’s new initiatives, drones, aircraft manufacturing, and the role that small and midsize companies play in helping the economy prosper.

Edited excerpts:.

Q. We are soon approaching the next general election, for you personally, in your ministry, what is the unfinished agenda?

A. We have a number of important initiatives that we are working on. On the top of the list is NABH (Nextgen Airports for Bharat) Nirman, which is an initiative that the government has undertaken to increase airport capacity four to five times. We have visibility over the next five or six years of about 1 lakh crore worth of investment that is going into various airports like Navi Mumbai, new terminals that we are building in Chennai, Lucknow, Guwahati, and Agartala. We are also doing a tremendous amount of work in expanding airport capacity, adding slots, and building new terminals and greenfield airports.

The second major initiative we are working on is Airsewa, which is a better passenger experience for everyone. We have got a number of things happening there, like a passenger charter, we are working on the Airsewa portal, on DigiYatra, we are working on WiFi connectivity, a whole host of things to make travel a lot easier and more comfortable.

The third major area we are focussing on over the next six months is drones, and aircraft manufacturing in India.

Q. The Fortune India Next 500 is all about felicitating and recognising midsize companies, which are an essential growth driver for the economy. How important are small and midsize companies when it comes to driving economic growth?

A. They are extraordinarily important. If you look at what happens to economic growth, or growth in jobs, you find that most of it is driven by small-cap and mid-cap companies becoming large-cap companies. It is when they grow exponentially, when they go on that fast part of the S curve, that’s when lots of jobs are created, lots of wealth is created, and the economy prospers.

For The Next 500 2018 list, click here