India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the premier trade body representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry and The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), along with Roland Berger took the pledge to build the startup ecosystem in the defence space.
The theme of the two day event was Building India’s Strategic Electronics ecosystem for greater self-reliance and global relevance – Defence, Aerospace and Internal Security.
Addressing the gathering on Day 2 of DEFTRONICS 2016, Chief Guest of Honor, RV Deshpande, Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development, government of Karnataka said, “We are a visionary state and want to encourage women entrepreneurs and first generation businesspersons with incentives and guidance. It is important that DEFTRONICS should become a platform where it can attract investments going forward.”
M.N. Vidyashankar, President, IESA, said, “We believe initiatives like ‘DEFTRONICS’ should help in bringing all the stakeholders in the business to get together and to find solutions. Our focus should revolve around building the startup ecosystem with the required thrust. We have seen lot of changes in the policy making and Defence Electronics policy is the immediate anecdote for us. A positive atmosphere is building up and the Government along with Industry Stakeholders are coming together to make ‘Team India’ for ensuring domestic defence manufacturing.”
BV Mohan Reddy, Executive Chairman, Cyient, reiterated his concern with domestic electronics manufacturing. He said, “Electronics import bill to go up to $400 Bn by 2020, while the domestic manufacturing will be close to $104 Bn, surpassing oil import bill. Hence, self-reliance is the key challenge of 21st century.”
DEFTRONICS 2016 has drafted a new vision for the defence and aerospace through a constructive discussion, led by government officials and industry thought leaders.
The first day of the event was graced by dignitaries such as H.E. Yael Hashavit, Consul General of Israel, Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Indian Minister of Defence & Director General, DRDO, Priyank Kharge, Minister IT, BT and Tourism, Government of Karnataka and R. Chandrashekar, President, NASSCOM and many more.
Day 2 witnessed the presence of personalities like R. V. Deshpande, Minister for Large & Medium Industries & Infrastructure Development Department, Govt. of Karnataka; Dr. Mignonne Man-jung CHAN, Founder & CEO, Out-of-the-Box,Taiwan; BVR Mohan Reddy, Executive Chairman, Cyient; Arup Ray, Vice President, AXISCADES Engineering Technologies Ltd; Ashok Baweja, Head, QUEST Global Defence; D. Uma Maheshwar, Executive Chief Consulting Engineer, GE Aviation-India and C.P. Suresh, GM (Technology Planning), BEL, Arvind Lakshmikumar, CEO, Tonbo Imaging, Narayan Prasad, Co-Founder, Dhruva Space, Parag Naik, CEO Saankhya Labs, Neha Satak,, CEO, Astrome Technologies and Anand Madanagopal, Founder & CEO, Cardiac Design.
By EB Bureau
