First Defence Production corridor to come up in TN: Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government's announcement of creating defence manufacturing corridors will give a "big boost" to defence production and has paved the way for setting up the first Defence Production Corridor in Tamil Nadu.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech said the government will take measures to develop two defence industrial production corridors in the country.

"These are the first ever Defence Production Corridors being formed in the country. These Defence Industry Corridors will give a big boost to defence production in the country," Sitharaman said.

The Minister said that the Department of Defence Production had recently conducted a major Defence Industries Development Meet in Chennai in January 2018 with huge participation from defence industries, including MSMEs from Chennai, Mysore, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchirappalli and from other places as well.

"The meet highlighted the prevailing ecosystem, albeit scattered, conducive for Defence Production in Tamil Nadu," Sitharaman said.

The Minister added the announcement has "paved the way for setting up the first Defence Production Corridor in Tamil Nadu".

"This shall provide impetus to the defence production industry in the country and in the region," she said.

Jaitley also announced that an industry friendly Defence Production Policy will be brought out in 2018 to promote domestic production by public sector, private sector and MSMEs.

--IANS

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