CHENNAI: Elated over the announcement on setting up of two defence industry production corridors in the Budget, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said such a corridor coming up in Tamil Nadu would give an impetus to the defence industry production in the state.
“The announcement by Finance Minister has paved the way for setting up the defence production corridor in Tamil Nadu. This shall provide an impetus to the defence production in the country, and in the region, in particular,” she stated.
Referring to a recent defence industries development meet held in Chennai, she recalled that the meet attracted huge participation from defence industries including MSMEs from Chennai, Mysuru, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchy and from other states as well. The meet highlighted the prevailing ecosystem, albeit scattered, conducive to defence production in Tamil Nadu.
Thanking the Finance Minister for the path-breaking announcements, Nirmala Sitharaman stated that these were the first defence production corridors being formed in the country and would give big boost to defence production.
Arun Jaitley announced in the Budget that measures would be taken to develop two Defence Industrial Corridors in the country and draft a Defence Production Policy, 2018 to promote domestic production, but he did not mention the sites where the two proposed corridors would come up.