DIC launched at Tiruchirappalli
Investments announcements worth Rs 3123.50 crores made
S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @svs037
Tiruchirappalli was cynosure of all eyes on January 20 as eminent personalities assembled to inaugurate the defence industrial corridor there. Inaugurating the corridor Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said several initiatives have been taken by the Ministry for ensuring that the Indian industry including the big players, startups and MSMEs can engage with our armed forces and co-create the best in defence technologies, especially through the flagship program of Make in India.
She also stated that development of these corridors will not only help in accelerated growth and regional industry agglomeration, but will also facilitate a well-planned and efficient industrial base which will lead to increased defence production in the country and the region. This will also help the industry to integrate with the global supply chain of defence manufacturing.
Nirmala Sitharaman launched CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Incubation Centre’ to support the MSMEs, start-ups and the existing industries in their endeavour to contribute towards defence indigenisation. Products of OFB, HAL and BEL were launched during the event.
Model of main battle tank Arjun (Mark-1A) was handed over to Director General of Ordnance Factories. This is said to be much superior to the earlier version in terms of fire power, mobility and protection features. The chief attraction was investment announcements of over Rs 3,100 crores by Ordnance Factories Board, Defence Public Sector Undertakings and the private sector.
Well known defence equipment producing companies liek Lockheed Martin, LMW also have annouced their intentions to invest in the corridor. The corridor also known as Tamilnadu Defence Production Quad as the nodal cities form a quadrilateral, will include Chennai, Hosur, Salem and Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli as the nodes.
These nodal cities have existing defence ecosystem in the form of OFBs, vendors working with defence public sector undertakings and other allied industries. The Tamilnadu Defence Corridor aims to bolster interaction between all the industry players in order to create long-term synergy and eventual development of the area into a Defence Production powerhouse. Tamilnadu Industries Minister M C Sampath was among others present.