Hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Union Budget 2018-19 that the government will set up two defence industrial production corridors, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that the first corridor will be set up between Chennai and Bengaluru.

In his budget speech, Jaitley had also stated that the government would bring in an industry friendly Defence Production Policy with the aim of promoting domestic production by the public and private sectors and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Now that the (Budget) announcement has been made for defence corridor, the first one will be built starting at Tamil Nadu, linking Chennai and Bangalore. Announcement for the second corridor will soon be made.

The government has opened the doors for private investment in defence production including allowing foreign direct investment (FDI).

Last month, Sitharaman had asked the Government of Tamil Nadu to plan out a defence corridor connecting Kattupalli port, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Hosur and Bangalore.