POKHRAN: In a scathing attack on Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that earlier governments destroyed the ordinance factories and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) but his government revived them and made them profitable.
“We gave life to these ordinance factories and converted them into seven big companies. HAL was brought to the brink of ruin. We transformed HAL into a record profit-making company,” PM Modi said during the Bharat Shakti exercise in Pokhran.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with delegates from more than 30 countries, witnessed the tri-service exercise ‘Bharat Shakti’ in Pokhran, Rajasthan, today.
Prime Minister Modi highlighted significant strides towards bolstering India’s self-reliance in the defence sector, stating that in the last 10 years, his government has taken big steps one after the other.
“We improved the policy, we included the private sector in it and we encouraged MSMEs and startups. Defence corridors are being built in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and more than Rs seven thousand crores have been invested in them,” PM Modi said.
Asia’s largest helicopter manufacturing factory has started operating in India. All three services have made a list of hundreds of weapons and decided that now they will not import them from outside, he said.
The Prime Minister underscored the growth with the inception of over 150 defence startups in the last decade.
“Defense equipment worth about Rs 6 lakh crore has been purchased from indigenous companies in 10 years. In these 10 years, the country’s defense production has more than doubled, i.e. more than Rs 1 lakh crore. More than 150 new defense startups have been started in the last 10 years. Defense forces have decided to give them orders worth Rs 1800 crore,” PM Modi said. (ANI)