Thiruvanathapuram, February 5 2016: A Defence Industry Park  is slated to come up soon in Palakkad, Kerala. The  Kerala Industrial Infrastructure obtained ‘Final Approval’ clearance from the  cedntral Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, to set up a KINFRA Defence Park at Ottapalam, Palakkad  district as part of the Make in India- Make in  Kerala Project.  
The project is intended to create a Defence Park with all common infrastructure facilities for the component manufacturers of  the defence Industry with Central Assistance. The  scheme  will be  implemented by the  Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
KINFRA has acquired 60 acres of land for setting up Defence Park at Ottappalam , adjacent to KINFRA SME Park. The Industrial units in the cluster will be given shared infrastructure facilities for innovative product development. KINFRA proposes to develop infrastructure facilities in the proposed Defence Park which includes dedicated power, continuous water supply, communication facilities, offering plug and play arrangement for easy start up of Industrial units at minimum cost and time. It is also being envisaged to create facility for instant global access through a state-of-the-art communication network.
Common infrastructure facilities will include:Tool Room, Environment Testing Facility, Training Facility, Warehouse, R&D, Incubation Center & Office Space, Quality Certification Centre.
The project cost including land is around  Rs 2.31 billion  and a Central assistance of Rs.500 million is expected. According to KINFRA MD, Dr. G.C. Gopala Pillai, the Park could start ventures in one year and reach maximum production in two years

IndiaTechOnline comment: The proposed  Defence  Park in Palakkad district Kerala  is a shrewd move by the Kerala government. The state  has  seen very little industrial activity  centered  around Defence -- except  occasional projects  farmed out to KELTRON.  Recent years  saw Thiruvananthapuram  go on the missile production map,  when In 2007, BrahMos Aerospace acquired Kerala Hitech Industries Limited  in the state capital and converted it into BrahMos Aerospace Trivandrum Ltd. 
With the central  government   slated to open up  defence  procurement to private enterprise  following the VK Aatre committee report, Kerala  will be in a good position to attract early entrants to the sector, by offering a ready-to-use common  infrastructure, thereby reducing the investment of individual players
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DEFENCE ELECTRONICS POLICY: The India Electronics and
Semiconductor Association (IESA), announced yesterday at its Vision
Summit in Bangalore, that it has  been  mandated by Ministry of Defense
to write a first ever detailed “Defence Electronics and System Design
Policy” along with NASSCOM. IESA with Roland Berger  had earlier  
released the whitepaper ‘Defence Electronics Market- Perspectives
and recommendations’ at Deftronics 2015 in Delhi, which serves as a
yardstick for India’s defence electronics sector.
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