According to a statement released by Reliance Defense Ltd, the company has entered into a partnership with the Andhra Pradesh government to build a facility centre near the Indian Navy’s strategic base and BARC’s nuclear facility at Rambilli, close to Visakhapatnam.
“This facility will support the Indian Navy’s strategic projects and focus on building strategic submarines and aircraft carriers“, the statement further read.
Under the memorandum, the state government will provide 1500 acres of land with the close proximity of Indian navy and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
“Reliance will make an initial investment outlay of Rs 5,000 crore in this project. This will represent the single-largest investment at one location anywhere in Andhra Pradesh. This investment is expected to generate more than 10,000 new jobs and also lead to the creation of a multi-teier array of defence ancillaries, bringing in further investment of between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 crore and thousands of additional skilled jobs,” said the Reliance statement.
Reliance has been keenly interested in large defense projects and to enhance their ship-building capacity, the company bought the Pipavav Shipyard on Western coast last year. It is estimated that Indian Navy will require Rs.3 Lakh Cr over the next 15 years thus creating a huge opportunity for the private sector.
Till now Larsen & Turbo is the dominant player of the strategic warship group.
Source: Defense News