Aligarh: Asserting India is moving out of the image of a big defence importer and moving towards making a new identity of an important defence exporter of the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the BrahMos missiles will be manufactured in Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Modi said the whole world is witnessing India manufacturing defence equipment from modern grenades and rifles to fighter aircraft, drones and warships.
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“Whether it is a rifle, fighter jet, drone or warship, there is a mission going on to push ‘Make in India’. India is stepping away from the image of being one of the largest defence importers and is moving ahead with the pledge to become a defence exporter,” he said, UNI reported.
Prime Minister Modi, who laid the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh, said Uttar Pradesh is becoming a huge centre of this transformation and added he took pride in this as he is the Member of Parliament from the state.
“In the Lucknow node of the defence corridor, BrahMos (missiles) will be made,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi informed that one and half dozen defence manufacturing companies will create thousands of jobs with hundreds of crores of rupees investment.
“New industries are coming up to support the manufacture of small arms, armaments, drones and aerospace-related products in the Aligarh node of the defence corridor. This will give new identities to Aligarh and nearby areas,” he said.
The Prime Minister pointed out that Aligarh, which was famous for protecting the houses and shops with its famous padlocks, will now also be famous for creating products that will protect the nation’s boundaries.
“This will create new opportunities for the youth and MSME,” he said.
India, according to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), was between 2016 and 2020 the world’s second-largest importer of weapons, accounting for 9.5 per cent of the total global arms imports.
India was during the period the world’s 24th largest exporter of weapons, accounting for a 0.2 per cent share of global arms exports.