In News :

Context :

• The Union Defence Minister inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor. During the inauguration, investments worth over Rs 3,038 crore in this defence corridor were announced. Lockheed Martin, a global security giant, also announced its intention to invest in the corridor.

The important features about the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor are :

• It is also called as Tamil Nadu Defence Production Quad as the nodal cities of Chennai, Hosur, Salem, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli form a quadrilateral with one of them at the centre.
• The five nodal cities already have existing defence ecosystem in the form of ordnance factory boards, vendors working with defence PSUs, and other allied industries.
• Together with helping in accelerated growth and regional industry agglomeration, the defence corridor will also facilitate a wellplanned and efcient industrial base which will lead to increased defence production in the country and the region.
• The corridor will help the industry to integrate with the global supply chain of Defence manufacturing.
• Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor would be a specialised facility of aero component manufacturing.
• Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor is the country’s second defence industrial corridor after the first one was launched in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh August last year.
• Tamil Nadu currently ranks 4th in exports with 9.8% of India’s total exports. The corridor will further expand the exporting opportunities from the state.