BENGALURU:The tenth edition of Aero India 2015 aerospace exposition, to be held next week, will provide a major fillip to the ‘Make in India’ concept and to Indian firms, feel industry experts and heads of many defence and aerospace firms.
“The Make in India programme is like the Swadeshi movement in the defence and aerospace sector as Indian and foreign companies will collaborate to manufacture products. The very fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the show shows that the concept is being taken very seriously by the government,” said former Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) chairman C G Krishnadas Nair, whose book on Make in India will be released on Monday.
Defence firms in the county are also excited about ‘Make in India’ and believe that the initiative will go a long way if the various stake-holders congregate and support each other.
“The concept of ‘Make in India’ is apt in the current scenario, with India turning out to be the world’s largest arms and equipment importer. However, for it to succeed, the government, defence public sector undertakings, the Ordnance Factory Board and others will have to cooperate and support each other. If handled in the right manner, India can become a defence exporter, which will offer huge benefits to the nation,” said G Rajnarayan, founder of the Radel Group.
Radel is a group of two SMEs and has a combined annual turnover of approximately Rs 10 crore. It has about 80 employees and operates from its own premises in Electronics City, Bengaluru. Electronics and aerospace design constitutes its core competence with a track record of more than 35 years.
Col Vivek Uberoi of Alpha Design Technologies Private Limited said the defence sector in the country is in need of indigenisation. “In India, one of the few sectors that is in need of modern technology is defence. ‘Make in India’ concept will go a long way, as with foreign collaboration, the GDP of the country can improve, while employment opportunities will be plentiful. We, at Alpha already have tie-ups with different defence firms across the world. Aero India 2015 will be a great platform for us,” he said.
Alpha Design Technologies is a Bengaluru-based firm founded in 2004 and provides state-of-the-art equipment for the defence and paramilitary forces through indigenous research and development.
Ashok Atluri, the managing director of Zen Technologies, believes that indigenisation must be given a boost.
“Indian defence should clearly give preference to indigenously designed and developed equipment. Just manufacturing or assembling products in India would not be adequate. While ‘Make in India’, under transfer of technology route, will create only blue collar jobs, encouragement to indigenously designed and developed equipment will create additional jobs which will employ scientific talent and ensure India becomes a global leader in defence equipment, apart from being the largest importer,” he said.
Zen Technologies, founded in 1993, is into designing, developing and manufacturing of training simulators and equipment for the Indian armed forces, paramilitary services and police.