CODISSIA urges Tamil Nadu government to support setting up of a defence testing centre in Coimbatore

The Coimbatore Small Industries Association has sought the support of Tamil Nadu government to set up defence testing facility in Coimbatore. It also wants large scale defence manufacturers to have production facilities in Coimbatore

The Tamil Nadu government should provide financial support for setting up of a Defence Testing Centre in Coimbatore at a total cost of ₹400 crore, said the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA).

In one of the resolutions passed at the annual meeting of the Association held here on Wednesday, the CODISSIA said the Department of Defence Production had requested Expression of Interest to set up the Centre in the Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor under the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS). The total outlay for the project was ₹400 crore and it would have state-of-the-art testing infrastructure for the Defence sector. The Central government would provide 75% funding as ‘Grant-in-Aid’.

The State government should provide 25% financial assistance. The facility would cater to the testing of systems and components for the Air Force, Navy and the Army. Large scale industries, MSMEs and start-ups would be able to use it to validate and get their products certified for the Defence supply, the Association said.

Further, since Tamil Nadu was one of the defence industrial corridors in the country, it should get investments from large industries for setting up their manufacturing units in Coimbatore for Defence supplies.

The Association also suggested that clusters of 10 industries each, including a mix of machining, fabrication, aluminium die casting, sheet metal, plastic making units, could form Limited Liability Partnership companies or private limited companies with investments from each participating unit. The clusters, with the support of Defence Innovation Hubs (DIH), would develop products using the available infrastructure within the investors’ industries. The cluster company would participate in tenders and take up manufacturing of products for the Defence.

At the annual meeting, M. Karthikeyan, of Sukshma Dynamics, was elected president of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) for 2024-26.

N. Krishnaraj of Kovaii Fine Coat, V. Rangaswamy of Rangavale Industries, and R. Shasikumar of Metro Metal Finishers are the vice-presidents of the Association. M. Yuvaraj of Gajendra Agencies was elected the secretary and P. Ponram of Unicon Engineers is the treasurer.