Adani Ports Incorporates Arm For Aircraft Leasing, Second In A Row After Aviation Fuels Subsidiary

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary company 'Udanvat Leasing IFSC Limited' to carry out business activity of owning and leasing of aircraft.

This was informed by the company in an exchange filing on Monday (23 October).

Udanvat has been incorporated in GIFT city, Gandhinagar and is yet to commence its operations, the filing noted. It has an authorised and paid-up share capital of Rs 2.5 crore which is divided into 2,500,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each.

Leasing an aircraft can be an alternative to outright purchase for a variety of reasons ranging from practicality to cash flow. In general terms, a lease is a transfer of an aircraft without transfer of title. The owner of the aircraft, or lessor, retains legal title to the aircraft, but transfers possession of the aircraft to the lessee.

The government has been making all-round efforts to transform the country into a global aircraft leasing hub to rival centres such as Dublin or Singapore, by incentivising foreign lessors to commence operations from here. 

As part of this, aircraft leasing companies that start operations from the International Financial Services Centre in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT-City) have been exempted from paying corporate and withholding tax on leasing transactions.

The Adani Group is already a major player in the growing aviation sector in India, with the group's subsidiary, Adani Airports Holding Ltd., managing seven airports in the country. This includes Mumbai, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports, besides Ahmedabad.

Further, the Gautam-Adani led group has also made an active foray into aviation fuels by incorporating Adani Aviation Fuels Limited in September 2022.

Adani Aviation Fuels Limited was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of APSEZ on 29 September, 2022 to carry on business of sourcing, transporting, supplying and trading of Aviation related fuels.

It is also engaged in constructing, developing, managing, maintaining, and hiring of infrastructure related to the business within and outside India.