Carbon-fibre composite manufacturing for large aero structures

Every kilogram of carbon fibre that goes into an Indian aircraft in 2026 arrived by ship. India consumed 5.6 kilotons of the material in 2024, and every gram of the tow and the precursor behind it was imported. Domestic production of the primary feedstock is zero.

Carbon-fibre reinforced polymer is what makes modern aircraft light. Structural composites cut weight and lift fuel efficiency, which is why only a handful of nations — the United States, Japan, Germany, France — hold the full chain. The difficulty is not the finished part but the depth of the pyramid beneath it: from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor, through carbon fibre tow, into fabrics, prepregs and finally a cured wing box that must never fail.

India climbs that pyramid from the top down. The country's role today is downstream: it imports tow and converts it into fabrics, prepregs and components. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited runs composite divisions producing fuselage and wing structures for the Tejas and helicopters, holds AS9100D certification, and won a US$100 million contract to export composite materials to Israel Aerospace Industries. Bhor Chemicals, in composites since 1943, supplies aerospace prepregs and resins. Rockman Manufacturing has served HAL and ISRO since 2019 and is executing a wing-box and fuselage assembly order. CSIR-NAL's Centre for Carbon Fiber developed a standard-modulus fibre, CEMILAC-certified in 2017, and NAL's SARAS MK-2 civil aircraft, its design frozen, will build its composite structures in-house.

But the base of the pyramid is missing. There is no indigenous PAN precursor. There are no Automated Fibre Placement systems known to operate in India — ISRO tendered for one and found every response prohibitively expensive. AFP is what turns hand-layup into scaled structural manufacturing. India's composites industry is skewed to cost-driven uses: glass fibre makes up nearly 98.5% of volumes, with carbon fibre confined to aerospace and defence.

The gap persists because the missing capabilities are upstream and capital-heavy. Reliance Industries announced India's first integrated line at Hazira — 60,000 TPA of PAN precursor and 30,000 TPA of carbon fibre, some Rs 21,200 crore of capex — but as of 2025-26 it remains pre-production. Jindal Advanced Materials, with Italy's MAE, plans a 3,500-tonne plant, also early-stage.

Closing the gap means operationalising precursor and fibre plants, acquiring or building automated placement, and running units through the 36-48 months an AS9100D qualification typically takes. The Make in India roadmap targeted self-sufficiency by 2025-26. The downstream skill exists; the foundation is what remains to be poured.