The development of the Defence Industrial Corridor is in full swing in Uttar Pradesh with around 90 per cent of the land having been acquired in all the nodes and different defence organisations working in collaboration with HAL and IIT, Kanpur.

The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has been named as the nodal agency for this work by the state government.

The UP Defence Industrial Corridor is being established in six districts of the state -- Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi and Chitrakoot. While in four nodes the land purchase or requisition process has started, in Jhansi, 94 per cent of the land has been selected, followed by 92 per cent in Chitrakoot and Aligarh and 81 per cent in Kanpur Nagar.

A defence industrial corridor is proposed to be set up in 3,525 hectares of land in Bundelkhand region. The entire land acquired for the defence corridor in Aligarh has been almost allotted by the UPEIDA to investors and the process of acquisition of additional land is in progress.

A government spokesman said that initially there was a plan to develop a defence park on 78 hectares of land.

He said the UPEIDA had signed MoUs with 25 companies to invest in Aligarh and a total investment of Rs 1,500 crore was proposed.

Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Research Lab, units related to drones, small arms and electronics are proposed in Aligarh.

“A Defence Park is proposed to be set up on 213 hectares of land in Kanpur. Investment proposals have been received from different companies,” the spokesman said.

In Lucknow, HAL and BDL have demanded about 250 acres of land.

“Along with this, proposals from 5-6 small and medium industries have also been received. The district administration is trying to identify the land in Lucknow. In addition, proposals have been received from Tata Technology, Siemens and Dassault for the establishment of a Central Facility Centre, whose selection process is in motion,” the spokesman said.

A Centre of Excellence established by UPEIDA- IIT BHU and IIT Kanpur will also work closely with the Indian Navy, thus providing the much needed synergy between the industry-academia-and the user.

The Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor is a Greenfield project aimed to increase investments in Uttar Pradesh. To initiate the development of the manufacturing industry, various incentives and subsidies have been provided by the state.

Along with this, the Uttar Pradesh Defence and Aerospace Unit and Employment Promotion Policy-2019 have been implemented to increase investment in this corridor.