Land Acquired for Defence Corridor

• Ministry of Defence has established two Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs), one each in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively.
• To facilitate public/private sector for the investment in the two DICs, both State Governments have acquired lands at the identified nodes.
• Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) has 06(six) identified nodes viz. Agra, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Kanpur and Lucknow.

Defence Industrial Corridor

• A defence corridor refers to a route or a path along which domestic productions of defence equipment by public sector, private sector and MSMEs are lined up to enhance the operational capability of the defence forces.
• The Government has set up defence industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• The establishment of the DICs aims at providing fillip to the defence manufacturing ecosystem through synergistic development of technologies, promote growth of private domestic manufacturers, including MSMEs and Start-Ups.
• The production of armament/ammunition; components of aerospace industries; missile systems; and establishment of research & development facilities has been envisaged in the two DICs.
• According to data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India topped the list of arms importer accounting for 13% of the trade in weapons platform between 2012-2018.
• The corridors overlap with existing defence public sector companies, and aim to ensure connectivity among various defence industrial units.
• t present, both DICs are in their formative stages.

Investments:

• In the UPDIC, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), the nodal agency, has signed 55 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with private industries, worth potential investments of Rs.7449.33 crore.
• In the TNDIC, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), the nodal agency, has signed 22 MoUs with private/public industries, worth potential investments of Rs.4800 crore.
• As on 19 July, 2021, the total investment made by Public/private sector in the UPDIC and TNDIC are Rs.1236.10 crore and Rs.2252.28 crore respectively.

Advantages:

• UPDIC has potential to generate employment for more than 16,700 persons, and the TNDIC has potential to generate employment for 25,000 persons in coming years.
• Improve the connectivity of the defence forces
• Encourage domestic production of defence equipments and benefit all small and medium manufacturers along the corridor
• Make the Nation self-reliant for meeting our defence needs