Defence exports key to get global perspective: MKU
Bengaluru, April 08: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India push is slowly showing positive signs in the defence sector, with the private industry getting visible roles in design, development and manufacturing processes.
At
the
just-concluded
DefExpo
in
Goa,
OneIndia
interviewed
Rajesh
Gupta,
Senior
Sales
Manager,
Light
Weight
Armour
Solutions,
MKU
Pvt
Ltd,
a
Kanpur-based
defence
company,
to
get
a
pulse
of
the
Make
in
India
mission.
Rajesh
said
with
the
thrust
on
Make
in
India,
the
change
in
the
mindset
of
the
government
of
the
day
is
inspiring.
"Export is an important factor in self reliance. You cannot sustain your business interest only on local competition. In defence, it is paramount to have a global perspective which will only come through exports," says Rajesh.
MKU is probably among the largest defence exporter in India and their businesses have grown substantially in the last 10 years.
He said with the Make in India push, the whole response system has changed, which he termed as a welcome change.
"Even Indian missions abroad are now listening to us. We find them very reactive. He said events like the DefExpo held in Goa would help more technology to come to India. All we need to build is a better echo system around the defence sector within the country," Rajesh said.
He said with an experience of over 25 years of manufacturing uncompromising protection solutions for the world military, MKU has today become a world leader in the segment.
"We have around 400-plus employees across various centres, including in Germany and UAE. We are investing around Rs 500 crore for a new facility. Our R&D spend is around 6-8 per cent of the total sales turnover. If we can go to Mars, what's defence industry? Just that we should get an opportunity," he said.
At
DefExpo,
MKU
unveiled
a
new
product
named
NICS
--
Network-centric
Integrated
Combat
System
for
Soldiers.
Rajesh
said
NICS
is
MKU's
answer
to
the
ever-increasing
NCW
(Network-Centric
Warfare)
missions.
"NICS is an integrated body armour embedded with a health monitoring system. It is light and helps the soldiers to remain connected to a multiple communication systems," he said.
At DefExpo, MKU inked a MoU with Russian firm JSC Shvabe to manufacture electro-optical (EO) devices in India, with production facility in Kanpur. MKU said the JV is not focused only on manufacturing of EO devices but also to cater to the needs of Army.
OneIndia News