Government starts process to build India's first defence 'Quad'

The Defence Ministry has started the process to set up the country's first defence industrial corridor linking Chennai with four other cities of Tamil Nadu to promote industries manufacturing weapons and military equipment.

Officials said the 'Quad' or quadrilateral corridor will connect Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli and the ministry is finalising the broad contours of the project.

They said the defence ministry will soon engage a top consultancy firm to draw up the detailed project report for the 'Quad'.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech on February 2, had announced that two defence industrial production corridors will be set up in the country to promote domestic defence industry.

"It is expected that with government opening up new opportunities for industry in defence sector, the Tamil Nadu Defence Quad will provide a major opportunity to the vibrant manufacturing sector in the State," the defence ministry said in a statement.

It said interactions will be held with defence manufacturers in Coimbatore, Salem, Chennai and Tiruchirappalli in the next two weeks to take their views on the proposed corridor.

The officials said representatives from defence PSUs Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd as well as from the ministry will attend the interactions.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the other defence industrial corridor will come up in the Bundelkhand region which he said will bring an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.

The idea behind setting up defence industrial corridors was to ensure connectivity among various defence industrial units.