Jindal Stainless, India's largest stainless steel manufacturer, has hosted a strategic defence materials conference in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Army in Hisar.
The conference, which took place on 14 March, is linked with 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' – which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for making India a self-reliant nation. It started with the inauguration of a shooting range by Jindal Stainless managing director, Abhyuday Jindal along with scientific advisor to India's Defence Minister, Dr G Satheesh Reddy. This was followed by various discussions ranging from the futuristic requirements of the sector to the challenges faced in indigenisation, and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) vision for the future for India's domestic manufacturers.
During the conference, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, commented, “I would like to congratulate Jindal Stainless for playing an active role in India's highly paced developmental journey. The organization's efforts in sectors of automation, quality consciousness and safety in the workplace are highly appreciated. The materials and manufacturing sectors are the pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat and hence there is a need to identify the gaps in these sectors and fill them with innovative technological solutions. Together we can fulfill the new ambitions of the country and fulfill our vision of 'Make in India for the World’.”
“Jindal Stainless is committed to empower the government’s vision to ‘Make in India for the world’ and bring the manufacturing of world-class defence material requirements back to the nation."
Abhyuday Jindal, managing director, Jindal Stainless
Commenting on the occasion of the first technical conference of its nature, Abhyuday Jindal said, “Jindal Stainless is committed to empower the government’s vision to ‘Make in India for the world’ and bring the manufacturing of world-class defence material requirements back to the nation. We are confident that ‘Bharat’ has the right skills and determination to become ‘Atmanirbhar’ in the Defence sector and such conferences will pave the way for smoother industry-government collaboration.”
Jindal Stainless' defence business head, C P Agrawal, added, “The right policy reforms aimed at banning or reducing imports in certain categories, such as armour steel, will help eliminate the problems of mis-declaration of imports, and the subsequent quality and safety issues arising from the usage of lower quality material for strategic applications in the Defence and Aerospace sector. This is the need of the hour to promote indigenous manufacturing in this sector and make India the preferred supplier for the world. ”
Jindal Stainless claims it is giving impetus to indigenous manufacturing in the defence and aerospace sector through its business unit, Jindal Defence and Aerospace (JDA) which started supplying material to the DRDO back in 2019 for its missile programme. Currently, the company offers a wide range of products for various applications, such as special steel for missile and satellite launch vehicle applications, submarine rocket launchers, armour steel which is one of the best in the world, and high nitrogen steel through patented technology produced at its manufacturing facilities in Hisar, Jajpur and Patherdi.
It is claimed that Jindal Stainless' aerospace and defence venture has helped in import substitution for a majority of these applications in last two to three years, thus, bolstering the strategic defence arm of the country.