Tamil Nadu defence corridor to be launched on Jan 20

The government will launch a defence industrial corridor in Tamil Nadu on January 20 during which major investments in the sector are expected to be announced, Secretary of Defence Production Ajay Kumar said Monday.

The event will be attended by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior Defence Ministry and armed forces officials.

Defence products are expected to be unveiled at the event, besides launching of a defence innovation hub in Coimbatore, officials said.

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

The government had envisaged building corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The idea behind setting up the defence industrial corridors was to ensure connectivity among various defence industrial units.

The Tamil Nadu industrial corridor will connect Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli.

"During the January 20 event, major industry announcements on investments are expected," Kumar said.

The event will see participation of several defence PSUs and industry players, he said.

When asked whether Ambani and Adani would be participating in the event, Kumar said "Ambani is not participating" as far as he knows.

The defence nodes in Tamil Nadu have a mix of government entities, large private companies, Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) and academic institution which makes it an ideal hub for further enhancing the defence-related ecosystem, defence officials said.

Tamil Nadu has over 500 engineering colleges and varsities, including the Anna University in Chennai, the National Institute of Technology in Trichy, and the Vellor Institute of Technology.