Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) The central government has decided to revamp and upgrade its pilot training institute, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy (IGRUA), to overcome shortage of pilots in the country.

"The government is soon going to invite major global aviation players in flight training to manage the IGRUA," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Saturday.

"Eventually the IGRUA, which is registered as a society, would be converted into a company so that a joint venture partner with equity participation could also be brought in," he added.

These steps would help the IGRUA to increase its existing capacity of training 40 pilots a year to more than 200, the minister said.

This would also be on account of the reduction in the total training time at the IGRUA, which is being brought down from the present two years to about a year, he added.

The IGRUA would now also offer s simulator training so that once a pilot passes out of the academy he can be absorbed directly into an airline.

The government is planning to pump about Rs.600 million for the modernisation and upgradation of the existing infrastructure and other facilities at the IGRUA, Patel said.

The minister has already directed all domestic airlines, both public and private, to make their instructors available on a rotational basis to overcome the current shortage of instructors.