Hyderabad: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Telangana has organized ‘DEFENCE CONCLAVE’ with the theme ‘Revisiting Strategies For Self-Reliance By Integrating India’s Defence Value Chain’ today on Virtual Platform.
While addressing the conference, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D & Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) said that Telangana is emerging as Tech Leader in Defence & Aerospace in the country through focusing on Innovation & Research. In Hyderabad, the presence of many defence research labs has given a big boost to the development of defence suppliers companies in the state. In many technologies such as Missiles, radars, electronic warfare systems etc. India has become self-reliant and many critical products are being manufactured in Hyderabad. Government of India through its proactive policies is promoting indigenous technology development through Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
While addressing the conference, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce and IT, E&C Departments, Government of Telangana said that Hyderabad based many defence and Aerospace companies are supplying products to globally renowned companies and are maintaining global standards. However, there is a need for the entire spectrum to go up in the value chain through the element of specialization, invest in improved technology and then we are poised to reach the top level in Defence manufacturing. The local companies need to mutually support each other and big companies need to pull up the small companies to move in the ladder.
Colonel K V Kuber, Indian Army Veteran, Director – Aerospace & Defence, Ernst and Young LLP said that defence manufacturing has become matured in Hyderabad however there is a need for more testing facilities in the state. Testing facilities need to be considered as national assets. India is witnessing a huge growth in Defence & Aerospace sector and we need to invest in critical technologies.
Krishna Bodanapu, Chairman, CII Telangana & MD, CYIENT Ltd said that the new DRDO procurement manual 2020 was released recently which will facilitate the indigenous defence industry by simplifying the processes and ensure their participation in design and development activities. It would contribute towards realising the objective of `Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and the features of the new manual will support the industry in speedy execution of projects. As part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, initiated by the Government of India in June 2020, the Indian defence ministry has proposed to ban the import of defence weapons that can be indigenously manufactured. These steps by the government are expected to boost private sector participation in the defence manufacturing industry.
Raminder Singh Soin, Convenor– CII Telangana Defence & Aerospace Panel & Managing Director, Skyquad Electronics & Appliances P Ltd. said that considering the size of Indian Defence Forces, and their modernisation needs, India has maintained a consistent defence spending pattern over the last decade to build defence capability, as also the defence industrial base.
Apart from public sector, through 09 DPSUs and 41 Ordnance Factories, many private industries groups are now prominent entities in the Indian Defence Industry Landscape. Notably, over 5000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) form an important part of the eco-system and significant contribution to the Sector’s revenue.CII is of the firm belief that public entities, including Research and Development (R&D) establishments, and the private sector, should complement each other to meet the requirements of the Indian Armed Forces.
The Conference was also addressed by Rudra Jadeja, CEO, Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems, Dr Mayank Dwivedi, Director – Industry Interface & Technology Management, DRDO HQrs, Ganesh Raghavan, Vice President & Head (Business Development), Tata Aerospace & Defence, Ashwani Bhargava, Director-Supplier Management, Boeing India International, Dr Chandan Chowdhury, Senior Associate Dean, Indian School of Business.
