Nagpur: Secretary (defence production) Sanjeev Kumar will be holding a meeting with stakeholders from the private and public defence enterprises in the region during his visit to the city on Friday. The idea is to get views from stakeholders at all levels to be used as policy inputs. The secretary would be reaching Nagpur along with the defence minister Rajnath Singh for inaugurating a new facility at the Yantra India Limited (YIL), a PSU carved out of the ordnance factories.Representatives of units ranging from YIL, which makes hardware for ammunition, Dassault Reliance Aviation Limited (DRAL), which manufactures parts of Rafael aircraft, Munitions India Limited, also a PSU, to mid and small-scale units working as ancillaries have been invited. Vidarbha Defence Industries Association (VDIA) would also take part in the meet.The inputs would later be shared at a high-level meeting planned in Delhi during August mid to draw plans for integration of the public and private sector entities in the field of defence production.Sources said issues like easy accessibility of data from agencies like DRDO may be raised. A section of industrialists have also raised voice against white labelling of defence products as indigenously made even as the items are imported. The issue is also expected to be raised during the meet, said a source. The participants are expected to take up issues about easing the licence process for exports. Even as the govt has been stressing on defence exports, these are linked with licences, which take time to be granted, a source said. The meeting in Nagpur is being coordinated by the state’s industries department. Sources said even the state would draw inputs for framing a policy based on the discussions during the meeting. The present defence and aerospace policy of the state was framed in 2018. The defence industries have been seeking sector-specific industries for which valuable inputs are expected to be received during the meeting, said sources. This comes in the light of defence production touching Rs1.78 lakh crore during the financial year 2025-26, registering a growth of 15.6% over the previous fiscal. Since 2020-21, this comes to a 110% growth, said a release by the govt. The PSU accounted for nearly 76% of the total production, while the rest came from the private sector. The share of the private sector has been at an all-time high, touching Rs42,000 crore in terms of value.
