India’s first defence park ready to launch

In what comes as good news for the defence ecosystem in India, the country’s first defence park is ready for launch at Ottappalam in Palakkad district of Kerala.

Located on the Kochi-Coimbatore industrial corridor, the 60-acre park with state-of-the-art infrastructure is intended exclusively for the manufacturing of defence equipment for the armed forces, as also markets abroad. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the park next month

The Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA), the nodal agency for the project, has completed infrastructure development and civil works at the park.

The defence park constructed with a cost of Rs 130.84 crore, is primarily aimed at MSMEs and some thirty entities have shown interest to set up several small and micro-enterprises.

The location of the sprawling 60-acre park, which was built near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, with easy connectivity by road, rail and air, and its access to the Kochi international airport and the Coimbatore airport, which is less than two hours away by road, are offered as a major advantage to potential investors.

As part of infrastructure creation, KINFRA has constructed a common utility centre, warehouses, standard design factory, administrative building, service yard etc.

The Kerala government is determined to position the park as a centre of competence for world-class defence manufacturing, in keeping with the ‘make-in-India’ initiative of the Centre.

It would be a hub for multi-pronged activities that include R&D, manufacturing and testing of equipment. Its focus areas would include components of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, defence navigation products, components of tactical vehicles, submarine building, components of warships, defence IT systems and solutions, avionics, tactical communication system, space robotics maintenance, micro-satellite, etc.