India has come a long way since the State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) started producing helicopters in 1962. By that year, it had entered into an agreement with France's Sud Aviation for the production of the Aloutte III "Chetak". Today, the goal of Narendra Modi's Government is to emancipate itself from military supplies from abroad, and so the Made-in-India aircraft, both civilian and military, has become a mantra.

The first "Chetak" was delivered in 1965. Hal's helicopter division was founded a few years later, in 1970, with the aim of producing aircraft for the Indian Armed Forces, thanks to a license for the production of the Lama SA 315-B "Cheetah", the first specimen of which was delivered to the Indian Air Force in 1976-1977.

Over time, the helicopter division of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has produced numerous aircraft under license such as the Cheetah, Chetak, Cheetal and Lancer. Today, however, it has developed and built domestically manufactured rotorcraft: like the Dhruv civil aircraft, the Rudra military version, while in the meantime it is designing the future Imrh (Indian Multi Role Helicopter) transport helicopter. In short, the future of the Indian helicopter industry is increasingly indigenous.

On the matter see also the article published by AVIONEWS.