India in elite club of developed nations: DRDO Official

Coimbatore, Sep 24 (UNI) Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) Scientist and Chief Controller W Selvamurthy said the recent success of the organisation in launch of Interceptor Missiles and Agni-III had taken India to the elite club of a few developed nations with similar capability.

Delivering the eighth Evangeline Memorial Endowment Lecture on ''DRDO: In the Mission of National Building'' at Karunya University here today, Dr Selvamurthy said the DRDO had successfully developed tactical systems like Main Battle Tank (Arjun), Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Electronic Warfare Systems, Sonars, Torpedoes, armaments and many of them are being delivered to the country's Armed forces.

Though India is low on the Human Development Index, it is one of the world's largest weapon purchasers, importing Defence equipment worth more than Rs 40,000 crore annually, comprising eight per cent of the country's total imports and 50 per cent of total Defence expenditure, he said.

Elaborating on DRDO's role in economic development, Dr Selvamurthy said Indian scientists were contributing to a good number of national and international patents, IPR, copyrights, designs, trademarks as well as research papers with high-impact factor.

Thereby, DRDO has been a true ''knowledge bank'' for the nation and owner of vast intellectual property, he added.

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