• India is among the top 5 military spenders and one of the emerging defence manufacturing hubs in the world. To support the growth of Defence sector and enhance manufacturing capacity in the sector, two Defence Industrial Corridors are being set up in India, one in Uttar Pradesh and another in Tamil Nadu.

• Promoting Make in India, the Defence Industrial Corridors will catalyse indigenous production of defence and aerospace-related items. This will reduce our imports and promote export of these items to other countries.

• The combined efforts of the Government and private players will help achieve India’s goal of self-reliance in defence, generate direct and indirect employment opportunities and spur the growth of private domestic manufacturers, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Star-ups.

Sources: 1, 2

• The Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor is being set up by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). It consists of the following six nodal points with the potential to develop defence industries in the corridor:
  1. Agra
  2. Aligarh
  3. Chitrakoot
  4. Jhansi
  5. Kanpur
  6. Lucknow

• Plug and Play support will be provided to the industries in the corridor, which will consist of the following facilities:
  1. Assured water supply and uninterrupted electricity (132 KVA) along with pelican wire fencing boundary wall at the site
  2. Connectivity with 4-lane heavy-duty highway connected with Bundelkhand Expressway and Delhi-Jhansi
  3. Single Window approvals and clearances to Defence and Aerospace (D&A) manufacturing units via Nivesh Mitra, the single window system of the state
  4. Labour Permits for D&A industry towards flexible employment conditions
  5. Simple Procedures and rationalised regulatory regime with easy reimbursement of incentives and subsidies

Sources: 1, 2

• The Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor, being set up by the Government of Tamil Nadu, consists of the following five nodal points:
  1. Chennai
  2. Coimbatore
  3. Hosur
  4. Salem
  5. Tiruchirappalli

• The State holds the following strategic advantages which makes it a suitable destination for a defence corridor:
  1. Large coastal line which has four large seaports (three government and one private) and 22 minor ports
  2. The state has four international airports at Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai; and two domestic airports at Tuticorin and Salem
  3. A power surplus state with renewable energy capacity of 11,113 MW
  4. Tamil Nadu’s capital city Chennai is connected to the world by three submarine cables providing a bandwidth of 14.8 Tbps
  5. A destination of choice for Korean investors; the state is the largest Recipient of Korean Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India

Sources: 1, 2