Kerala’s defence, aviation, and aerospace industry has the prospects of growing to a $30 billion industry by 2047, according to speakers at the Invest Kerala Global Summit here on Saturday.

The growth of these industries to achieve the target is aided by the already increasing cooperation between the defence research institutions in the country and institutions like Keltron, HMT unit in Kalamassery and hundreds of small industrial units in the State, they said at a session on Kerala’s prospects in the aerospace, defence and aviation industries.

G. Levin, CEO of Kerala Spacepark (K-Space), said that great prospects lie ahead for the State in these three areas while India itself is growing in these areas at a great pace. Kerala can have a big share of the expansion of these industries in India.

Pavuluri Subba Rao, founder and managing director of Ananth Technologies and a defence industry expert, said that Kerala is seen as innovative in its approach to development. The State, he said, should think in terms of launching its own satellites to monitor its programmes. For example, he said, Kerala can gain money from selling carbon credit for its extensive green cover. These types of assets can be monitored using satellites, he said.

In progress

Indian Navy’s Assistant Chief of Materials (IT) Sarath Aashirvad said that several warship programmes are in progress in the country, drawing partners like Keltron into the fold of defence equipment component suppliers. These programmes offered great prospects for future growth for the Electronics Corporation and other small and medium scale industrial units, he said.  

Duvvuri Seshagiri, Director of the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), said that India is emerging as a global leader in defence industry and is the fourth largest defence spender with an outlay for ₹6.8 lakh crore. India is also targeting at 70% self reliance by 2027 from the present level of 50%. He said that these targets offered great opportunities for the State. Kerala has a much bigger role to play in the industry and the research segment in the future, he added.