Tata Power begins work to set up Rs450 crore defence manufacturing facility in Karnataka

The foundation stone laying ceremony for the greenfield defence production facility of Tata Power’s strategic engineering division (Tata Power SED)at Vemagal (Kolar district), Karnataka, was held today with the Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah laying the foundation stone.
Tata Power SED has the unique distinction of participating in the country’s defence programmes through a dedicated R&D set-up at Mumbai and a dedicated 10.5 acre defence manufacturing facility at Electronics City, Bengaluru, operational since 1986. Over the next one year, the division is making an investment of Rs450 crore at its new 50-acre Vemagal facility to create a state-of-the-art integrated digital design-to-manufacturing facility for large systems engineering and integration. This is the largest ongoing investment to create a ‘Make in India - Defence’ manufacturing asset in the country. The facility is the largest strategic electronics manufacturing unit approved under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) programme of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India. Also, the Government of Karnataka (GoK) has been approached for additional land adjacent to the present site at Vemagal under the GoK’s new industrial policy.
The Vemagal facility will be the largest strategic electronics manufacturing unit incorporating fully automated PCB assembly lines, sub-system / system testing facilities with full qualification for military and aerospace standards. The facility will have ferrous / non-ferrous structure manufacturing, precision engineering and machining capabilities, system / shelter integration bays and specialised manufacturing / test facilities for electronic warfare systems, inertial navigation systems, RF systems, etc. Additionally, the facility will cater to optronics and night vision equipment including tube and detectors manufacturing. This integrated systems engineering facility will be able to deliver artillery and air defence weapon systems, network centric systems such as tactical communication / battlefield management systems, integrated electronic warfare systems and radar / sensor suites catering to the land, naval and airborne warfare requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. The facility will also be able to deliver state-of-the-art systems for homeland security and is geared to produce clean energy solutions for defence as well as civilian use.
On this occasion, Rahul Chaudhry, CEO, Tata Power SED, said, “For the last four decades Tata Power SED has focused on indigenous defence R&D and manufacturing. This month we delivered the 64th Akash Air Force Launcher; one of the largest serially produced indigenous weapon systems, for our armed forces. The Vemagal investment is in line with the company’s commitment towards the ‘Make in India’ initiative and the facility will be dedicated to the national effort of ‘Swavalamban’ in the strategic defence sector. We are thankful for the support extended by the Government of Karnataka since our Electronic City plant was operationalised in the eighties and their continued support to our expansion.”

 tata.com