Defence manufacturing is still a niche segment in India. What was the motivation behind starting this organisation more than two decades back?
MKU started as M. Kumar Udyog more than two and a half decades back. When we went international, we changed the name to MKU and today we are known globally by this name.
Defence manufacturing is indeed a very niche segment and hitherto much neglected segment. Till very recently it was the exclusive preserve of the Government and open only to DPSUs. The private sector participation started in earnest only after 2001 when the government started opening up the sector for private industry. However, this has received a boost with the new government's thrust on promoting the private industry in sector.
We at MKU always felt that this sector offered opportunities for growth and employment. Besides, we were spurred by the desire to develop manufacturing capability within the country. It was this motivation that led us to break the frontiers and venture out. We are happy that today we stand vindicated with the government's belief that this sector can help increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector and also provide employment.
We truly stand behind Prime Minister Modi's call for ‘Make in India' and want to take the Indian footprint even further into the international market by promoting ‘Made in India'.
What are the different categories under which MKU offers defence equipment?
MKU manufactures protection solutions basically under two categories - a) Personnel Protection and b) Platform Protection. Under the former we have the various categories of personal protection gear for the security and defence forces. We specialise in providing state of the art, technologically superior protection equipment that reflects the latest technological trends globally. We have our own Technical Centres in India and Germany, where our team of engineers work on developing new solutions and effectively using the latest materials.
MKU acquired an armouring company in Germany in 2008 and with it ventured into platform protection. Today, we have the capability and experience to provide armour solutions for a wide variety of platforms including naval vessels, land vehicles and aircrafts. We have provided armour solutions for many Indian projects including the ongoing procurement of 80 patrol boats by the Indian Navy. Our production facilities in India and Germany are certified according to the stringent AS 9100 C. MKU GmbH, our 100 percent subsidiary in Germany, is on board the F125 project for the German Navy.
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