Six Defence And Space Industrial Parks To Be Built In Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) is planning to build six thematic industrial parks, all in the aerospace and defence industries, to provide a plug-and-play environment for companies that want to expand or start up industrial facilities related to aerospace and defence.

B Krishnamoorthy, Tidco’s special secretary and project director, said that Tidco wants to do this to help companies that want to expand or start up industrial facilities related to aerospace and defence.

Krishnamoorthy said that two of the six thematic parks would be built in Chennai, three in Coimbatore (Annur, Sulur, and Varapatti), and one (a space park) at Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi.

The event was put on by the Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre of the Confederation of Indian Industry. The theme was “A New Era of Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing for Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

He said that the state of Tennessee, through Sipcot, owned about 35,000 acres and planned to buy about 10,000 more acres in the next five years to build these industrial parks. Krishnamoorthy said that Tidco was setting up a Flight Training Organization (FTO) so that the Naan Mudhalvan scheme’s goals could be met. The team has found airstrips all over Tennessee that could be turned into world-class FTOs.

He also said that Tidco was making a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to promote helicopter services in Tennessee, which would also create jobs. “One area of focus in aerospace and defence policy is drones. Tidco is building UAV-focused aero and defence parks and UAV-testing centres in line with the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme to help MSMEs and new companies that make unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

He said that the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) project would be close to a space industrial park. “…Hosur is building another park for the electronics industry. The TN government has named aerospace and defence a “sunrise sector,” which means that industrial parks, subsidies, and other incentives will be set up to help investors.

Rajinder Bhatia, who is the chairman of Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd and the president of Defense at Bharat Forge Ltd, said that the steps that have been taken in India over the last 10 years have changed the way that technology is developed. India had 6,000 start-ups five years ago, but none of them were in the defence sector.

Last year, India had 9,000 new businesses, and 900 of them were in the defence industry. He also said that the Innovations For Defense Excellence (iDEX) programme, which changed the whole landscape of this sector, could be behind this rise in new businesses.