Over 70 projects to bolster country’s defence innovation

New Delhi: The Indian government has intensified its focus on fostering innovation and self-reliance in defence technology with significant investments and initiatives aimed at transforming the country into a global research and technology hub.

On Thursday, the government informed the Parliament that a total of 79 projects, costing Rs 334.02 crore, have been sanctioned under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) Scheme, which supports various industries in developing cutting-edge defence technologies.

As part of its push towards strengthening defence innovation, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has established 15 Defence Innovation and Academia Centres of Excellence (DIA-CoEs) across India.

These centres, located at premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), aim to advance directed research in defence and security technologies. Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, these centres also foster collaboration between start-ups, academia and industries, further driving the development of indigenous defence solutions.

Junior Defence minister Sanjay Seth, while responding to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha, highlighted that the TDF scheme, a flagship programme under the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. The scheme is designed to encourage micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups to participate in the design and manufacturing of defence technologies.