Kanpur to become a major defence production hub, IIT Kanpur and BHU to support new technologies

The Yogi Government is working in mission mode to make Uttar Pradesh a global hub for defence production. Detailed discussions were held in Kanpur on preparations for the next phase of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC). At the ‘Kanpur Regional Defence Workshop’, organised in partnership with Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the state government, it prominently emerged that Kanpur will become a major centre of defence production in the coming days. IIT Kanpur and BHU will support new technologies.District Magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh stated that Kanpur, known as the ‘Manchester of the East’, has the full potential to become a major defence manufacturing centre of the country. Meanwhile, Observer Research Foundation Vice President Professor Harsh Pant remarked that the Government of India is now focusing on manufacturing defence equipment within the country instead of importing it, and the defence corridor in UP has a very major role in this.He explained that the objective of the ‘Strategic Uttar Pradesh’ initiative launched by his organisation is to bring all stakeholders of the defence sector onto one platform, increase investment in UPDIC and strengthen the potential of the defence sector by visiting different cities, and that the Kanpur workshop is part of this campaign.MP Ramesh Awasthi stated that this corridor is working towards making Uttar Pradesh a major centre for manufacturing weapons and defence equipment. The government has joined hands with major institutions such as IIT Kanpur and BHU so that the use of science, research and new technologies can be increased across the entire corridor. To create this new identity for Kanpur, key representatives from the government, industry, defence production, research institutions, policymakers, major institutions such as IIT Kanpur and MSMEs sat together and prepared the complete roadmap. UP’s large youth power will be directly trained according to the specific requirements of the defence sector.Tanmay Tiwari of Datum Advanced Composites also emphasised that infrastructure needs to be established very rapidly in Kanpur and that attention will have to be paid to providing training and skills to the youth. The benefits of research from institutions such as IIT Kanpur and BHU will now reach ITIs and local institutions. Training and internships provided with the support of industries will not only provide jobs to the youth, but will also enable UP to build its own strong skilled workforce for the defence sector.Along with this, the workshop discussed plans to make the biggest obstacles faced by local small businesses and MSMEs, namely the difficult processes of testing, quality checks, trials and certification, extremely simple.Major General P. K. Saini of the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers stated that several new and simplified changes have been made in defence procurement processes, which will make it considerably easier for local industries in Kanpur to participate in manufacturing defence equipment. While expanding the scope of ‘Make in India’, the workshop emphasised that instead of merely bringing components from outside and assembling them, design, intellectual property (IP), software and upgrade technologies should now be developed within the country itself. Kanpur already has a strong engineering and manufacturing base.Udaya Arun of the US-India Business Council stated that the industry and investors are highly enthusiastic about Kanpur because it has emerged as one of the strongest centres of the defence corridor.Commodore Anil Jai Singh of TKMS India also stated that foreign defence companies operating in India have realised the scale of the large market here and they too want to become a part of it. The biggest benefit of this new initiative of the Yogi Government will be that these new changes taking place in the defence sector will not remain limited to the military or security.He said that the workshop highlighted that with the support of institutions such as IIT Kanpur, dual-use and deep-tech technologies will be developed that can also be used by civilian industries and in the manufacturing of everyday goods.This will boost the overall business and industrial environment of Kanpur. It was also decided at the workshop that a separate institutional mechanism will be created in Kanpur to ensure better coordination. After the Kanpur workshop, the next stop will be the Jhansi workshop, followed by the major Defence Conclave to be held in Lucknow at the end of this year, where the final policies for establishing UP on the global defence landscape will be presented on the basis of these recommendations. Published - September 04, 2026 11:10 am IST