Soon, Uttar Pradesh will manufacture fighter planes, battle tanks, helicopters and other defence equipment. Not only this, in the next five years, the state will attract investments worth Rs 50,000 crore and would provide employment to 2.5 lakh people.
The state cabinet has approved Uttar Pradesh defence and aerospace manufacturing and employment promotion policy making way for investments in defence sector. The defence equipment will be manufactured in UP Defence Industrial Corridor. The defence corridor will comprise six UP districts, namely, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, Chirakoot, Kanpur and Lucknow.
According to chief secretary Anoop Chand Pandey, the main aim of the defence policy is to attract public, mega and anchor defence units to the state and make them invest in UP. Moreover, the defence corridor will contribute to the development of the impoverished Bundelkhand region.
The companies that invest more than Rs 1,000 crore will be considered as mega anchor units. For setting up of such mega anchor units, the UP government will provide land at subsidised rates. The UP government has begun it efforts to acquire land in Bundelkhand for the same.
To promote investment in the defence corridor the UP government will give 25 per cent subsidy in defence and aerospace units.
It may be recalled that during the investment summit held in UP in February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to build a defence corridor for the development of the state and generate more employment opportunities.
To facilitate the investors, the UP government will come up with a single window clearing system under which clearance of applications, subsidy, approvals and other facilities to be provided will be cleared by an authority. This will promote hassle-free investments.
