The Coimbatore Defence Conclave 2023 here on Thursday made a pitch for large-scale integration of MSMEs into the overall ecosystem of defence manufacture, procurement and maintenance.
Organised by the Kumaraguru Centre for Industrial Research and Innovation (KCIRI), Kumaraguru College of Technology, the second edition of the conclave witnessed interactions amongst scientists from DRDO (Defence Research Development Organisation), officials from armed forces, government departments and industries to bring about a better understanding of defence requirements, procurement policies, quality standards and other pre-requisites for vendor registration.
The co-organisers constituted CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC), Aerospace Industry Development Association of Tamil Nadu (AIDAT), and Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI).
Defence ecosystem can develop well with private sector participation as in the countries such as France and Germany, Air Marshal M. Matheswaran (retd.), former Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence, said.
Citing Dassault, the French aerospace company that has supplied Rafale aircraft to India, he said the company confines its role to designing and undertaking only 20% of critical manufacturing, leaving the rest to MSME suppliers. “Still, 89% of the defence manufacturing contract of India goes to the public sector undertaking companies. This needs to be changed.”
Indian companies can penetrate into the global defence market, which is dominated by majors from countries like US, Russia, UK, France, Israel and China, by working on cost competitiveness, quality control, and production efficiency, he said.
In his special address, N. Ramachandran, president, AIDAT and Chairman and Managing Director, MEL Systems and Services Ltd, said defence service maintenance was a huge market that MSMEs could derive utility of. Coimbatore was poised to take the lead in the Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor, he said.
Presiding over the event, Shankar Vanavarayar, Joint Correspondent, Kumaraguru Institutions, observed that Coimbatore was moving steadily into the defence space with the advantages of temperate weather, cosmopolitan culture and technological growth.
Published - July 27, 2023 06:52 pm IST
