(Image source from: The Hindu)

Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of defense on Saturday urged startups to evolve and weapons and technologies for the Indian armed forces.

"We (Ministry of defense) want you to provide Indian solutions to problems faced by the armed forces. By indigenization, India doesn't need to import many of the products that we do," Sitharaman told startups in this tech hub.

"India wants its sectors disrupted through technological advancements," she said at the launch of "defense India Startup Challenge", a national contest for startups to develop arms and technologies for the defense sector.

"Indigenization has been a priority for India, however, we did not indigenize sufficiently enough," the Minister added, addressing a gathering of 200 startups, incubators and defense officials at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Convention center in the city center .

Through the contest, individual researchers, academic institutions, startups, Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can participate in 11 different categories of creating products and technologies that can be in use by the armed forces.

The categories in which the researchers and startups can develop products or solutions include building see-through armor for the army, development of 4G-based tactical Local Area Network for the Navy, and laser weaponry and unmanned surface and underwater vehicles development for the Air Force, among others.

Select few startups will likewise receive a funding of up to Rs. 1.5 crore through the Ministry for developing their ideas, and given access to test their products.

A Bengaluru-based firm Tonbo Imaging, as part of the event, has been given an order to make night fire control system for Russian-made grenade launcher AGS-30.

"The Ministry will ensure the startups working on their ideas get the orders," Sitharaman said.

On the occasion, the defense minister as well tied up with five business incubators to promote and support the startups.

"The contest is in line with the Innovations for defense Excellence (IDEX) scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in April during defense Expo in Chennai, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the defense sector," an official statement said.

It further added that the competition will likewise give a fillip to the country's innovation possibility and make networks for collaboration between defense sector and startups.

More than 200 startups, 50 SMEs, and 12 business incubators took part in the defense-business gathering.

By Sowmya Sangam