Defence corridor: Government sets up advisory committee

The advisory committee would map the “specific action plans to conceive and implement the aerospace/ defence industry development programmes and…suggest the ways and means of strengthening defence manufacturing,” said the official communication. 

The committee’s mandates include reviewing steps taken by Tidco and the government for development of aerospace sector, assess the investment potential emerging in the sector and suggest appropriate measures to attract more investments in the aviation/ defence sector, and understand the bottlenecks faced by the Indian aerospace components manufacturers in Tamil Nadu. 

The committee would also assist the aerospace related manufacturers to explore business opportunities with global aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Suggestions on tax structures and concessions, and policy framework for development of aerospace network are also included. For the development programmes of indigenous manufacturers of smaller and mid-sized aircrafts, the committee would also assist in availing funding support from central agencies, especially the Department of Science and Technology. 

A senior government official said the committee would play an advisory role but added that there would be clarity only after the first meeting with the members was convened. The committee is mandated to convene once in three months. 

Even while emphasising on the commitments to the aerospace sector, the document is ambiguous about the defence manufacturing clusters in the State. 

“In December, Assocham made a representation to the government to form a committee of experts to guide the industry in Tamil Nadu. We need to focus on the areas that the city and State are popular for and promote tier 2 and tier 3 companies around these,” said Vinod Surana, one of the members of the advisory committee and theco-chairman of the Tamil Nadu and Southern Region Development Council of Assocham.