Kerala - Kochi   

Government keen on setting up defence production park

KOCHI: Kerala, eyeing for a big share of the Rs.30,000-crore defence components market in the country, wants to set up an exclusive defence production park, and has proposed Palakkad, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram as possible places to establish the facility.

Industries Minister Elamaram Karim said the Government had brought to the notice of the Union Defence Ministry that substantial acreage was available in Palakkad for setting up a defence park and that the State was ready to look at Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram if a feasibility study pointed to setting up the park at these locations.

Mr. Karim was speaking to reporters after the valedictory of the two-day Defence Industry Symposium organised jointly by the Department of Industries, the Kerala State Small Industries Association and the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Friday.

Besides finding land for the defence park, the Government would extend help to set up common facilities like research and development. The Government was also keen to see major private sector players in defence production coming to use the facilities being promised by the defence park. Mr. Karim said that industrial units from Kerala — most of them public sector companies — earned around Rs.300 crore annually from supplying products to the national defence establishment or just about one per cent of the defence establishment’s purchases from the domestic market envisioned through the Offset Policy 2006.

Besides engineering and communications equipment, Kerala had substantial strength in food processing which could also be used for supplies to the armed forces. Meat Products of India, a Government-owned meat processing unit in Koothattukulam would explore the possibility of getting orders from the defence establishment, the Minister said.

The Thiruvananthapuram-based Kerala High Tech Industries was being taken over by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a hub for BrahMos production. The unit was handed over to the DRDO.

Other public sector units with defence tie-ups were being identified and they would take a cue from the strong ties the public sector Keltron had forged with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Coir and other traditional products too had great potential in the defence market, said Mr. Karim. Foam Mattings was capable of getting orders from the defence establishment and a process of negotiation was set in motion, he said.

T. Balakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, and T.O. Sooraj, Director, Industries, were also present at the press conference.

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