Kartanaka notifies new Aerospace & Defence Policy, aims $6 billion investments, 60,000 jobs over five years

The State Government will develop Bengaluru, Belagavi, Mysuru, Tumakuru and Chamarajanagar as aerospace and defence manufacturing hubs with an aim to attract $ 6 billion in investments and add about 60,000 jobs over the next five years.

This is part of the new aerospace & defence policy the government has notified, offering generous sops for investments from setting up parks to R&D as well as manufacturing.

The five locations will have aerospace and defence parks with special economic zones (SEZs). A private investor can promote a park under 100% privately-owned and privately-operated model or under a public private partnership (PPP) model. In the PPP model, the government will invest up to 26% of equity which will be in the form of the value of the plot, the policy document said.


The defence and aerospace companies could use the SEZs to discharge their offset obligations to the government of India.

The policy seeks to develop Karnataka as an aerospace and defence manufacturing hub including maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO) and space applications and strengthen the R&D infrastructure.

The policy offers private developers of the parks and investors of all sizes a host of incentives and concessions such as exemption from stamp duty, concessional registration charges, production-linked incentives (PLIs) and other subsidies.

The policy seeks to place a special emphasis on the MSME units in an effort to nudge them towards making investments in the sector, and offers a host of subsidies and concessions.

The policy covers new age companies such as drones, avionics, robotics, simulations and embedded systems etc.

The policy mentions that Bengaluru is home to multiple space related startups including Astrome, Nopo Nano Technologies, Pixxel and Team Indus that are driving space innovation in the state. The government expected composites manufacturing and 3D printing technology to draw investments as they are used in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones.