• The Rajya Sabha passed the ‘Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025’ on April 1.

• It seeks to give legal effect to certain international agreements in their application to India with Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu asserting that it will partly help to bring down airfares.

• The minister said the legislation will create a lot of security for lessors and lessees and the overall aviation market, as there has been a lot of confusion in this area. It has been a grey area for some time.

• Underlining the importance for India to have leasing on a large scale, Naidu said at present 86.4 per cent of about 840 planes that operate in Indian skies are on lease.

Why the govt brings in new legislation?

• India acceded to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (2001) and Protocol to the 2001 Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment in 2008. 

• The Convention and Protocol aim to establish a uniform international legal framework for securing and enforcing rights in high-value mobile equipment, such as aircraft, airframes, engines, and helicopters, by facilitating asset-based financing, reducing creditor risk, and ensuring legal predictability in cases of default or insolvency.

 • The Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025 proposes to provide for protection of interests in aircraft objects and gives force of law to the Convention and the Protocol in India, subject to the provisions of this Bill, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The Bill seeks to:

a) Give force of law to the Convention and the Protocol, subject to the provisions of this Bill, and in accordance with the declarations deposited by India at the time of accession. 

b) Confer power upon the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to function as Registry Authority for the implementation of the Convention and the Protocol.

c) Provide for the obligations of debtors and creditors towards the Registry Authority for submission of dues and exercising remedies in cases of default. 

d) Adopt the remedies available to a creditor under Article XI of the Protocol.

e) Apply the provisions for de-registration and export request authorisation.

g) Give an overriding effect to the Act to the extent of inconsistency with any other law and to retain the power of the central government and other entities to arrest or detain an aircraft object, under domestic law, for the payment of dues directly related to the service provided in respect of the aircraft object.

• The Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on February 10 this year.

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