Visakhapatnam : Expanding his defence sector play, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani announced setting up of a new naval shipbuilding facility with an initial investment of Rs 5,000 crore, reports PTI.
The facility, to be set up at Rambilli along the East Coast near Vizag, would also lead to creation of a multi-tier array of defence ancillaries with further investments of Rs 5,000-10,000 crore and thousands of skilled jobs, he said.
Speaking here at the Andhra Partnership Summit after his group signed an MoU with Andhra Pradesh government for the facility, Ambani said it would complement Reliance Group’s existing facility at Pipavav in Gujarat and will have a clear focus on building strategic assets for the Indian Navy.
Chairman Anil Ambani says the “Indian Navy will spend over Rs 3 lakh crore or nearly Rs 20,000 crore a year on acquisitions and fleet modernisation of submarines and aircraft carriers over next 15 years, creating a huge pipeline of opportunity for the proposed world-class naval facility”
“It is estimated that Indian Navy will spend over Rs 3 lakh crore or nearly Rs 20,000 crore a year on acquisitions and fleet modernisation of submarines and aircraft carriers over next 15 years, creating a huge pipeline of opportunity for the proposed world-class naval facility,” he added.
“At an initial investment outlay of Rs 5,000 crore, it will represent the single-largest investment at one location anywhere in Andhra Pradesh,” Ambani said.
The billionaire industrialist said one of the most important part of India’s policy of a “credible minimum deterrence” is SSBN or a nuclear submarine and the proposed Vizag facility “will play in critical role in complementing this mission and bringing it to fruition”.
Besides, it will also further Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India mission in the defence sector, he said.
He said India can become a regional superpower only if its maritime capabilities are strengthened through vigorous build up of our surface and sub-surface fleet.
“The US today has 10 aircraft-carrier groups operating around the world to project its power and protect its interests and was on course to add another three, while India had barely one…. Further, nearly 90 per cent of the conventional fleet in the Indian Navy is over 20 years old and due for urgent upgrade and refitment. “There is a projected requirement of an additional 23 submarines,” Ambani said.
MI-series like blockbuster success in store for economy
Inspired by blockbuster film series ‘Mission Impossible’, Ambani said India has got its own economic version of MI series in form of missions like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Startup India’ to catapult the country to the next level of growth.
Meanwhile, leading forging major Bharat Forge also announced plans to set up an integrated auto components hub in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of about Rs 1,200 crore.
