To support the micro, small and medium enterprises in the State, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO) is planning to develop six thematic industrial parks — two in Chennai, three in Coimbatore and one space park at Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi, according to B. Krishnamoorthy, Additional Secretary and Project Director, TIDCO.
He was speaking about the key projects of TIDCO at a conference on Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Technologies, organised by the Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre of the CII, on Friday.
Mr. Krishnamoorthy said that at present, the State government, through SIPCOT, possessed approximately 35,000 acres of land. It was planning to acquire roughly 10,000 acres in the next five years to develop the six thematic industrial parks. “The creation of the thematic industrial parks will provide a plug-and-play ecosystem to the companies planning to expand or set up new facilities related to aerospace and defence manufacturing.”
“With the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission, Tamil Nadu has been ranked No. 3 in the country in the ease of doing business. The possibilities of the State being ranked first in the coming years is higher as it supports the micro, small and medium enterprises in the aerospace and defence sector,” said M. Ponnuswami, chairman, MSME & Ease of Doing Business Sub-Committee, CII-SR, and CMD, Pon Pure Chemicals.
Rajinder Singh Bhatia, conference chairman and chairman of Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd., and president, defence, Bharat Forge Ltd., in his theme address, said, “Five years ago, India had 6,000 start-ups, and not one of them was in the defence sector. Just last year, India had 9,000 start-ups, of which 900 were in the defence sector. This surge in the start-ups is due to The Innovations For Defence Excellence (iDEX) programme that changed the very landscape of this sector.”
Talking about the funding opportunities, Navneet Kaushik, Director (Startups and Outreach), Technology Development Board, Department of Science and Technology, said, “We have funded ₹7.5 lakh to even ₹250 crore. We also fund 50% of the capital cost at an attractive 5% simple interest.”
“We would want to do for the defence sector what we did for the bio-tech sector in India,” he added.
Published - December 17, 2022 12:04 am IST
