Second groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday
The Uttar Pradesh government is likely to make some changes in its Defence Policy to actualise the Defence Industrial Corridor and incentivise arms, ammunition and explosives manufacturing units there.
UP is all set to emerge as a potential hub of aerospace and defence manufacturing and industry. The foundation stone of the Defence Industrial Corridor was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 19 this year and the corridor is expected to attract investments of Rs 20,000 crore.
The UP Defence Corridor (UPDC) is set to come up over 5,000 hectares of land in Bundelkhand, Agra and Aligarh and would open up opportunities for kick-starting a world-class manufacturing hub for Indian and global aerospace and defence (A&D) industry.
The project is expected to attract Rs 20,000 crore investments but has so far received investments worth Rs 4,000 crore. Sources in the UP Industry department said that plans were afoot to announce incentives for industries to thrive in the state and create thousands of jobs and attract not only investment but also human capital.
To encourage private enterprises to establish industries without specifying areas, the UPDC would allow them to set their bases not only on earmarked government land but also cover entire cities in identified areas.
In the past, due to fine print in policies, it was difficult for companies to access incentives that encouraged them to establish set-ups in the state.
Meanwhile, the UP government will host its second groundbreaking ceremony at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow on Sunday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be the chief guest on the occasion while a number of top industrialists will be in attendance.
UP’s Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana said that foundation stones of projects worth over Rs 65,000 crore would be laid at the second groundbreaking ceremony. The projects were announced during the first UP Investors’ Summit held in February last year.
In July 2018, at the first groundbreaking ceremony, foundation stones of 158 projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore were laid in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mahana said that nine departments had been given the responsibility of taking care of the guests who would arrive on Sunday morning and leave the same evening. All the guests would be accorded the status of state guests.
The prominent industrialists coming for the event include Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd Chairman Anand Mahindra, ITC CEO Sanjeev Puri, Medanta Group Chairman Naresh Trehan, HCL Group founder-Chairman Shiv Nadar, PepsiCo India President & CEO Ahmed El Sheikh, Tata Sons Chairman Chandrashekharan, Samsung India President & CEO HC Hong, Adani Group Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Adani and Torrent Group Chairman Sudhir Mehta.