Growing demands from Defence PSUs call for technology upgradation amongst SMEs: Defence Expert

New Delhi, Mar 8 (KNN) As the Defence organizations are looking for more SME suppliers to meet their needs, the Defense and Strategic Industries Association of India said there is a need to technologically upgrade the small and medium enterprises.

Defence organizations are looking for more SMEs in areas such as precision engineering, electronics manufacturing and sub-systems, RF seeker technologies, according to K. Jayaraman, Director, Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL).

While addressing the two-day ‘Make in India: DRDL (DRDO) – CII industry meet on opportunities and challenges for SMEs in the defence sector’ in Hyderabad on Monday, Jayaram highlighted that for some of DRDO’s ongoing missile projects, there is a need to involve private sector, especially SMEs, to develop various components, including critical engineering components and composite technologies.

In this context, P C Tripathi, President, Defense and Strategic Industries Association of India, told KNN, “SMEs are growing entities which are actively participating in the defence sector.”

“SMEs are very important target,” he said adding that DRDO has large numbers of MSME suppliers.

“There are lots of MSME suppliers from which the Defence PSUs are procuring. But procurement is still not up to the mark as the SMEs needs to be technologically upgraded,” Tripathi said. (KNN Bureau)