At a time when the Narendra Modi government at the Centre is espousing the cause of greater defence indigenisation under its ‘Make in India’ programme, the Yogi Adityanath-led dispensation in Uttar Pradesh is also gearing up to showcase the state as an ideal destination for domestic defence manufacturing.
India is projected to invest $250 billion in defence procurement over the next decade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants India to shed the tag of the world’s largest importer of arms by encouraging foreign firms to collaborate with Indian players and manufacture defence wares in the country itself, with a related policy already rolled out.
Against this backdrop, the Yogi government would make a pitch for defence manufacturing in UP at the global investors’ summit to be hosted by the state on February 21 and 22. About 5,000 business delegates, industrialists and investors are expected to participate in the mega summit.
According to Business Standard, UP Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner (IIDC) Anup Chandra Pandey, the state government is eyeing almost Rs 50,000 crore worth of memorandums of understanding (MoU) with Indian and foreign companies at the summit across sectors. “Our main focus would be to ensure fructification of these MoUs going forward,” said Pandey.
During the earlier Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav regimes, MoUs to the tune of over Rs 50,000 crore had been signed. However, most of those proposals never took off, thanks to weak or no follow-ups, policy flip-flops and the perception of a bad law-and-order situation in the state.
Also, top industrial nations like the US, UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are also to be roped in as ‘partner countries’ for the summit.
Meanwhile, the state government is gearing up to announce new policies in various sectors, including agriculture, textiles, electronics manufacturing, solar energy, information technology, filmmaking, etc, over the next few weeks, to further leverage the summit for a larger investment.
