The Ministry of Defence under the leadership of Nirmala Sitharaman has initiated the massive Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor in Tiruchirapalli today. The initiative intends to introduce multiple measures within the defence industry to promote ‘Make in India’. The meeting was attended by several state ministers and by other senior officials of Tamil Nadu. The interactive session also saw the participation of officials from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and Ordnance Factory Board.
The defence corridor aims at boosting the indigenisation of defence sector by bringing in all stakeholders under one big umbrella. The five nodes of Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor will be Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli and Salem. Chennai which is the capital of the state, also hosts more than 50 Engine factories, 200 heavy vehicle factories and more than 550 vendors of Bharat Electronics Limited. Coimbatore, on the other hand, boasts a presence of more than 45000 factories in Tirupur-Erode economic corridor and also has four economic zones in the city. Tiruchirappalli also acts major node for the corridor as the existing presence of BHEL and Ordnance factories is going to give a good push for the defence corridor. And lastly, with Salem having mineral deposits, power grids and steel plants and with Hosur being a horsepower of the automobile industry, the Defence corridor aims for the robust launch of the Make II Procedure, the new import substitution under the revised Make in India initiative.
Smt @nsitharaman :”In an effort to reduce imports & encourage indigenous production, @makeinindia was introduced by Hon PM Shri @narendramodi.
In defence, we encourage emerging pvt sector companies to tie up w/ PSUs to manufacture world class equipment.”#TamilNaduDefenceCorridor pic.twitter.com/W3RAZovUG7— Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) March 16, 2018
Addressing the gathering, the Defence Minister spoke about the importance of the defence sector in the overall growth and development of the country. Despite India being the largest importer of arms, she stressed upon the need to promote the indigenous production of arms and ammunition. “In an effort to reduce imports & encourage indigenous production, Make in India was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In defence, we encourage emerging private sector companies to tie up with PSUs to manufacture world-class equipment”, said the Defence Minister, addressing Tamil Nadu Defence Production Quad in Tiruchirappalli. She also interacted with the local defence and allied industrialists, MSMEs and other stakeholders in an attempt to strengthen the defence ecosystem in Tamil Nadu. She also sought the active support of all the stakeholders in this new initiative.
The Defence Minister also invited all the stakeholders to the upcoming Defence Expo, giving them a platform to showcase defence-related products. The DefExpo 2018, scheduled between 11th April to 14th April, in Chennai has already attracted more than 350 company registrations.