Project-hit Entrepreneur Returns to Mihan as Aerospace Investor Twenty-five years ago, the Maharashtra government acquired Hemant Bhave’s land at Khapri, where he operated a small engineering unit. Bhave, who founded Bhagyashree Home Appliances as a 28-year-old in the 1980s, was forced to relocate when the government seized his property. He described the experience as shocking, noting the compensation offered was insufficient to compensate for his losses. Despite the upheaval, Bhave has returned to the area as an aerospace investor, now operating within one of India’s largest special economic zones (SEZs)—Mihan. His company, Bhagyashree Home Appliances, is establishing a 2.5-acre plant to manufacture aircraft components for two prominent SEZ-based firms: Dassault Reliance Aviation Limited (DRAL) and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL). DRAL is set to produce the Falcon business jet, India’s first commercial aircraft to be manufactured domestically from Mihan, and supplies spares for Rafale fighter jets. TASL, meanwhile, serves aviation giants like Boeing and Airbus. Beyond the SEZ, Bhave’s company also supplies sheet metal parts for Su-30 fighter jets to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and provided critical components for the Chandrayaan mission to ISRO. Bhave retained the “Home Appliances” suffix in his company’s name, a nod to his early invention—a device that measured cooking gas in a cylinder, enabling consumers to order refills in advance. The transition to aerospace was not immediate. After the land acquisition, Bhave and his family were uprooted, with no choice but to relocate to MIDC’s Hingna industrial estate. His son, Prasad, who earned a degree in aerospace engineering by 2012, played a pivotal role in steering the company toward aviation.#hemant_bhave #bhagyashree_home_appliances #mihan_sez #dassault_reliance_aircraft #tata_advanced_systems
