Lucknow, Nov 12(FN Agency) Declaring that government would soon announce a centrally funded incentive scheme to promote the private sector in the field of defence production, Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that India which was importing all its defence requirements in the past, was fast turning into a defence exporter. “We have achieved this turnaround in just 7 years. A few years back we were the number 1 country in importing defence equipment, but now we have slipped in this ranking after defence manufacturing units started production in a big way,” he said. Addressing a meeting during the review of the progress of the UP Defence Manufacturing Corridor at the residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday, Mr Singh said that the government understands the power and need of the private sector. “If the public and private sectors work together, very soon India will be self-sufficient in the defence production sector,” he said. He said during the past 7 years, the country’s defence production has gone up by 334 per cent and now India is being recognised as a defence exporting country.
“India is now exporting defence items to 75 countries and it is among the 25 countries which are known as defence exporting countries,” he further claimed while adding that 64 per cent of defence requirements are manufactured in the country. He also blamed the previous governments for not giving any priority to the defence sector. “In the last 14 years from 2000 to 2014, the Centre had issued just 200 defence manufacturing licenses but in our 7 years of rule have already given 350 licenses while much more are in the pipeline. Mr Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Lucknow, made it clear that red tape system in the defence ministry has also been abolished and now there is a transparent system to deal with all the matters. “The Central government has already launched a scheme to allow investment in the defence sector in the country so that both the new Defence manufacturing Corridors in UP and Tamil Nadu are benefitted,” he claimed.
Applauding UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was present in the meeting for providing instant relief to the investors in the Defence corridor, the former UP CM Singh said now no one can stop UP from bringing out an industrial revolution due to the Defence Manufacturing Corridor. The Defense Industrial Corridor in Uttar Pradesh is the result of this commitment. Production will start soon in all the six nodes of the corridor. The land has also been made available to those investing in Lucknow and Jhansi. We are soon coming up with a centrally sponsored scheme, in which there will be a provision to encourage defence industries to invest in the corridor. Be it the anchor industry or MSME industry, everyone’s needs will be taken care of in the new incentive policy, he said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the corridor will play an important role in making the country self-reliant in the field of defence production. The corridor will also play a major role in realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’, he said and added that 23 MoUs related to investment of Rs 50,000 crore have been signed-in the Defence Industrial Corridor. CM declared that an investment of more than Rs 11,203 crore is estimated through the corridor. The Chief Minister exuded confidence that the Uttar Pradesh Defence Corridor would benefit the vast MSME base existing in the state. State Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana along with several stakeholders and investors were present in the meeting. Earlier, BJP media coordinator Praveen Garg said that Rajnath Singh was given a rousing welcome on his arrival to the city. He was received by cabinet ministers including Satish Mahana and Ashutosh Tandon.