Applauding efforts of the Madhya Pradesh government to promote defence production, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said it is an important step in making India self sufficient in the sector.
"I believe that Madhya Pradesh government has taken an important step in making India self sufficient in defence sector. I invite investors to take advantage of opening up of the sector. Manufacturing of defence goods will reduce imports," he said while inaugurating the Global Investors' Summit here.
Presently, Modi said, India imports even smaller items of the defence sector. "We even import tear gas shells. Even tears have to be imported. We have to change it. Why should an outsider make us weep. We can weep on our own," he said in lighter vein.
The government has allowed foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence production and several global and domestic companies have expressed keen interest in the sector.
As regards Madhya Pradesh, the Prime Minister said it was the first state to have came out with its own defence manufacturing policy.
Madhya Pradesh has traditional centres for defence production like Jabalpur and Gwalior. However, over the years they have ceased to be important centres for manufacture of defence goods.
Modi said the initiative of the state government could help in reviving Jabalpur and Gwalior as centres for defence production.
The government earlier this week had said it has cleared 19 long-pending defence sector projects, including that of Reliance Aerospace Technologies, Bharat Forge, Mahindra Telephonic Integrated Systems, Tata Advanced Materials and Punj Lloyd.
Modi said ample land, good infrastructure and effective governance make MP an excellent investment destination.
