UP Defence Industrial Corridor

CategoryDefence

Last Updated15/11/2021

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the first operationalised private sector defence manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) in Lucknow.
The facility, run by Aerolloy Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of PTC industries, will manufacture parts for Aircraft Engines, Helicopter Engines, Structural parts for aircrafts, Drones and UAV, Submarines, Ultra-Light Artillery Guns, Space Launch Vehicles and Strategy Systems etc."

Defence Industrial corridor is a path in which domestic productions of defence equipment by the public sector, private sector and MSMEs are lined up to enhance the operational capability of the defence forces.
It not only improves the connectivity of the defence forces but will also encourage domestic production of defence equipment and benefit all small and medium manufacturers along the corridor.

It was announced by the Prime Minister while inaugurating the UP Investors Summit in Lucknow in 2018.
Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) is the nodal agency that is working on setting up Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor.
It is an aspirational project that intends to reduce foreign dependency of the Indian Aerospace & Defence Sector.
It consists of the following six nodal points:

Uttar Pradesh is the fourth largest state in India and the third largest economy within the country.
With a population of more than 200 million, UP has the highest number of available labour force and is one of the top five manufacturing states in India.
The state also ranks first in terms of number of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country and ranks 2nd in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).
The government has established another Defence Industrial Corridor in Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor consists of five nodal points. They are Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur, Salem, Tiruchirappalli.

Tamil Nadu has a long coastline of the length of 992 km, on which there are three major ports.
The state of Tamil Nadu has four international airports and two domestic airports.
Tamil Nadu is a power surplus state with a renewable energy capacity of 11,113 MW.
The capital city Chennai is connected with the world via three submarine cables that provide a bandwidth of 14.8 Tbps.
Tamil Nadu is the largest recipient of Korean Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India.
In the TNDIC, the nodal agency, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) has inked 22 MoUs with private/public industries which is worth potential investments of Rs 4800 crore.

India is among the top 5 military spenders and one of the emerging defence manufacturing hubs in the world. DICs support the growth of the Defence sector and enhance manufacturing capacity in the sector.
The Defence Industrial Corridors will catalyse indigenous production of defence and aerospace-related items promoting the Make in India program.
This will reduce our imports and promote the export of these items to other countries
The combined efforts of the Government and private players will help achieve India’s goal of self-reliance in defence
DICs Generate direct and indirect employment opportunities and spur the growth of private domestic manufacturers, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Star-ups.

The first challenge in the development of technology is in advanced electronics and materials, which cut across all the verticals.
The second challenge is relative immaturity of Material Science to use lighter and stronger intelligent material.
Meeting expectations of the industry, who not only wants faster clearance of their proposals for setting up or shifting their bases, but also tax benefits like in Special Economic Zones (SEZ), faster decision making etc is a challenge for the government.
While there is an over-concentration of orders with the public sector (leading to choking and queuing), hardly any orders are actually flowing to the private players.
Unavailability of talented human resources is also one of the major issues."