Karnataka plans exclusive Defence Park: Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider setting up a dedicated and exclusive Defence Park in the state.
Karnataka is the undisputed leader in aerospace and defence-related manufacturing vis-a-vis services in India due to the presence of numerous aerospace companies and PSUs engaged in manufacturing, design and development, besides maintenance, repair and operations, Siddaramaiah said.
More than half of all the production units and Research and Development centers are located in Karnataka, and almost all global aerospace majors have presence in the state, he added.
"A quarter of all the aircraft and spacecraft made in India are produced in Karnataka," Siddaramaiah said.

The CM was speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the Greenfield defence production facility of Tata Power's Strategic Engineering Division at Vemagal near here.
He said: "To visualise the potential in this industry, Karnataka plans to have a dedicated and an exclusive Defence Park - a fully integrated defence and aerospace infrastructure facility to support manufacture of components, systems and sub-systems as also export of finished products besides providing a range of auxiliary units across avionics and forging."
"I have requested Prime Minister to consider establishing an exclusive Defence Park in the state," he added.
Siddaramaiah pointed out that Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division's state-of-art manufacturing facility dedicated to defence sector in the 50 acres of land, with an investment of Rs 700 crore, has an employment potential of over 500 persons.