Govt plans Rs 100 cr defence technology fund

New Delhi, July 10 (UNI) The government is planning to set up a defence technology fund with a corpus of Rs 100 crore to attract private participation in defence production.

''The fund will be used for government-approved defence production schemes in which private players are interested,'' Defence Productions Secretary K P Singh told reporters at the agreement signing ceremony of the Samtel-HAL joint venture here.

He said Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was keen on setting up the fund at the earliest.

However, the fund's corpus would depend on the Finance Ministry's approval, he added.

Mr Singh said the government had approved all defence production schemes to encourage private participation in the defence sector.

Replying to a question, he said the government was thinking of a joint venture with Russia to manufacture multi-purpose transport plane of C-130 class.

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