At Dubai EXPO2020 Uttar Pradesh Invites Investment for Defence Corridor

The largest state of India, Uttar Pradesh is developing a defence corridor to create a manufacturing ecosystem that will not only support the domestic defence enterprises but will also develop products for exports.

The defence corridor policy is one of the major policies of the state government that is on display in the India Pavilion at EXPO2020 Dubai during the ongoing 'State Week', which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Outlining the business-friendly initiatives associated with the state's Defence Corridor policy, Dr Muthukumarasamy B, Special Secretary, Infrastructure & Industrial Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh said, "We are developing six nodes - Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Kanpur and Lucknow under Defence Corridor. We have strong ancillary base to support the needs of defence manufacturing and ensuring continuous supply of raw materials, labour and other needs of the industry."

"The state has existing manufacturing bases that include Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, and we also have prominent ordinance factories in Uttar Pradesh - Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. We are also focusing on Research & Development and innovation base," he said, adding that investors can come and invest in the six identified nodes.

"We have good land parcels available. We have recently allotted land to BrahMos missile and manufacturing unit will be coming in Lucknow. We have allotted land to Bharat Dynamics also. We have nearly 3000 hectares of land proposed to be notified and we will purchase these lands and will be made available to investors," said Dr Muthukumarasamy.

To make it easier for the firms investing in the UP Defence Corridor in terms of connectivity, the state nodes are located on the expressways, which includes Bundelkhand Expressway that is in the completion stage. "There is no connectivity issue and manufacturing units will be well connected to the expressways," he said.

"We are mobilizing SME ecosystem, small scale units, which can come and invest. We are developing export-oriented manufacturing base for defence sector. We would like to bridge the market gaps and connect the ancillary units in the state to meet the requirements of defence Public Sector Units," said Dr Muthukumarasamy.

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