Bangalore: Defence infrastructure provider Parakram is developing a world-class industrial corridor as a private sector enterprise housing capability to design, develop and support Defence, Aerospace and Home Land Security systems and solutions across the southern states of the country.
This was announced at a press conference here today by the Directors S Krishna Kumar, Prem Chand and Asif Iqbal.
The corridor was aimed to propel the region into an innovation-led economy, by hosting the most advanced and fully integrated centers for research and development, production of Defence and Aerospace Systems, facilitate innovation and commercialization by providing advanced infrastructure, equipment and facilities.
It would foster and facilitate smart partnerships between the government and private sectors, prepare industry to participate in the global contract bidding, foster collaborations to manufacture products for the local, regional and global market.
The first phase of this industrial corridor would span across the states of Tamil Naidu, Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry.
The investment for the first phase is earmarked at Rs 250 crore and will go up as the project progresses.
The land identified includes a 40 acre plot at Bagalur Aerospace Zone in Bangalore, 36 acres near Chennai, Khairatabad in Hyderabad, on Ernakulam highway near Kochi. Each of these areas fall within 60-km radius of the International airports, Dr Kumar said.
He said India’s growing economic, social and geo-political role makes it incumbent upon the country to build commensurate security capability. Aiming to address this need, Parakram was launching the corridor. The funding will be mainly from the nationalised banks, he said.
In phase-2 the corridor would be extended to the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor spanning six states Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Southern Haryana, Eastern Rajasthan, Eastern Gujarat, and Western Maharashtra and other regions of the country, the Parakram promoters said.
Dr Prem Chand, Former Commodore in the Indian Navy and Additional Director General in the Ministry of Defence, said the Indian Defence budget at over USD 40 billion is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.3 per cent to exceed USD 75 billion by 2020, making it the 6th largest Defense spender worldwide by 2016. (UNI)