VISHNU: Reliance Group seeks 16 more defence manufacturing licences

Going overdrive in the defence manufacturing space, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has applied for as many as 16 more licences in areas ranging from missiles to radar, barely two weeks after it got conditional nod for 12 requests to make aircraft, choppers and more.

"We have applied for these industrial licenses to manufacture defence equipment and hardware such as heavy weapons, ammunition, explosives, missiles, small arms, electronic warfare, armoured and amphibious vehicles, radars and unmanned aystems," an informed source said.

"The new facilities to come up in Gujrat and Maharashtra in a phased manner," the source added, requesting anonymity, since he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Once these 28 licenses are in place, we will create tens-of-thousands of thousands of highly skilled jobs."

Late last month, the government had approved conditionally 12 licences for the Reliance Group in this this area. These were part of approvals for 32 similar applications from other stakeholders, as per the list put up by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

The projects are to be executed by companies floated by Reliance Defence that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure. These will cover the entire spectrum of land, Naval and air systems, sources said.

Reliance Defence also has strategic plans to set up a maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrades of various platforms. The group is also in the process of acquiring Pipavav Defence an hopes to conclude the deal by the end of this year.

Reliance Defence has 11 subsidiaries in niche segments of the sector and chairman Anil Ambani had told shareholders recently that defence manufacturing and smart cities will be the future drivers of growth for the company.

The group is also pursuing partnerships with several leading international companies, besides looking at stakes in some existing firms in the country and outside to meet home-grown solutions for the sector.