Boeing AH-64 Apache fuselages being manufactured at Tata Advanced Systems in Hyderabad

US plane maker 'working very closely' with Indian companies on new products. Air India is trying to lure passengers with direct services to the US and Europe

US aerospace major Boeing is planning further investments in India in the commercial and defence sectors, as the government in New Delhi undertakes economic reforms to attract foreign investors and boost its industrial sector.

“India is an exciting country, it's an emerging superpower, it reminds you in some ways of late 19th-century America, it's a vast market, and now with the reforms that Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi has undertaken, it enables companies like us to increase their investments,” Brendan Nelson, vice president of Boeing and president of Boeing Global, said on Sunday.

“We're also building a supply and distribution centre for components and parts. We're working very closely at the moment … with some pre-eminent Indian companies on some defence products and also some commercial products.

“So, certainly we intend to invest a lot more in India to support the country and its aviation sector,” he said, declining to elaborate.

Boeing currently employs 5,500 people in India, with a “very large engineering population”, and has a joint venture with Indian conglomerate Tata Group.

The Hyderabad factory has been producing parts for Boeing’s AH-64 Apache helicopter, including fuselages, secondary structures and vertical spar boxes for customers worldwide.

Boeing has added a new production line to manufacture complex vertical fin structures for the 737 family of planes, according to its website.

The company also plans to open a $200 million engineering centre in Bangalore early next year, Mr Nelson said.

The planned investments come as Indian airlines place record orders for planes with Boeing and Airbus.

Air India, which is now owned by the Tata Group, is trying to lure passengers with direct services to the US and Europe, traffic that typically transits through hubs in the Gulf.