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.

Udanvat has been incorporated in GIFT city, Gandhinagar and is yet to commence its operations, the filing noted. It has an authorised and paidup 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 allround 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.

Copyright 2023 Future Aviation Media Pvt Ltd, distributed by Contify.com, source Contify News