The Hindu Business Line : Go global, Sivathanu Pillai tells Indian companies

`Indian companies have remained merely manufacturers. But design holds the key. They should get into design development, at least at the component level, and compete in the international market.'

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Visakhapatnam Feb. 15 It is high time Indian companies started entering the international defence products market, estimated at more than $9 billion a year, as the technologies are now indigenously available, said Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, the Chief Controller of the Defence Research Development Organisation and CEO of BrahMos.

In the keynote address at an awards function organised by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) here on Thursday, Dr Pillai said that till now the defence research institutes had been developing the designs.

STRESS ON DESIGN

"Indian companies - both in the public sector and the private sector - have remained merely manufacturers. But design holds the key. They should get into design development, at least at the component level, and compete in the international market," he said.

He said there was a need for forming "consortium of public sector companies as well as private ones along with the research institutes to make a foray into the international market. We have made a beginning with BrahMos and there are many inquiries about it," he said.

COMPANIES FETED

Dr Pillai honoured 64 industries on the occasion for their contribution in developing products required for the Indian Navy, several of them based in Vizag and Hyderabad.

Bharat Dynamics Ltd (Hyderabad), the manufacturer of lightweight torpedoes, Bharat Electronics Ltd (Bangalore), C-Dot (Trivandram), Tamil Nadu Telecommunications Ltd, Keltron, and ECIL (Hyderabad) were some of the prominent ones.

Sri Panduranga Industries Ltd, a small company from Nuzvid (Krishna district), was also honoured for developing electronic console. Deepa Engineering Industries, Balagam Industries, Eagle Seals and Systems India Limited, Essen, Zenith Engineers, Sangamitra Engineering Associates, Stru-Fabs Heavy Equipment Fabricators, and Coromandel Electronics and Agencies were the local companies honoured by the NSTL on the occasion.

HELICOPTER FIRE

CONTROL SYSTEM

On the occasion, Dr Pillai also handed over documents for the helicopter fire control system for the advanced light helicopter to the General Manager of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (Bangalore). The system, used for firing torpedoes from the helicopter, had been indigenously developed by the NSTL and it would only cost Rs 60 lakh against Rs 3 crore for the imported version.

Dr V. Bhujanga Rao, Director of NSTL, thanked the industry for its support over the past 38 years.

NSTL has made impressive strides in developing stealth technology, crucial for underwater offence systems.

Some of the technologies it developed has civilian applications such as typhoid detection kits, cochlear implants for improving hearing and sophisticated sensors.

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