Godrej & Boyce Contributes Towards Indigenisation of Defence Sector in India

MUMBAI:
Godrej & Boyce (‘G&B’), the flagship company of the Godrej Group, is strengthening India’s defence sector with its indigenous manufacturing prowess.  On strength of distinguished customer confidence, a healthy order book and excellence in execution, the business has experienced excellent growth in the recent past and expects to continue a double digit growth from its defence businesses. The company serves the defence sector through several of its businesses viz Godrej Material Handling, Godrej Tooling, Godrej Security Solutions, Godrej Aerospace, and Godrej Precision Engineering, the latter three of which were also present at the DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar to showcase their defence capabilities.

Aligned with the government’s goal of producing defence products worth Rs 1.75 lakh crore by 2025 including exports of INR 35,000 Crs, the flagship company of the Godrej group has been making significant investments in capacity expansion, technology partnerships and R&D. Godrej & Boyce is working on setting up a green field facility of over 100,000 sq. mts for the businesses at Khalapur in Maharashtra.

Godrej & Boyce has developed and supplied numerous mission-critical and complex equipment for Aerospace, Land & Naval applications such as Air-frames for programmes like Brahmos and MRSAM, Mine-munition Layer, Counter Mine Flail, variety of Launchers, Watertight and Pressure Tight Doors and Hatches for Vessels and Submarines.

Not very long ago, Defense Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) in India was supplied the first airframe assembly from the company for the air-launched variant of the prestigious BrahMos missile. Godrej is proud to have supplied & fitted close to 700 water-tight doors on INS Vikrant, where the company has also supplied Forklifts. The medical bay of INS Vikrant too is fitted with Godrej Health Care furniture. In the past, ruggedised heavy duty forklifts have been supplied for Army regiments.

By strengthening its capabilities in R&D, Godrej & Boyce caters to domestic requirements while providing state-of-the-art products to the world. The company has strong partnership with several boutique MSMEs, who specialize in categories like Power Sources, Air Conditioning Equipment, Hydraulics and Pneumatics, Controller etc to increase indigenous production of defence equipment in India. The product offerings of the business are enhanced with
development of innovative solutions and integration of Robotics, IIoT and Control systems together with their partners.

Kaustubh Shukla, Head of Strategic Projects – Industrial Products Businesses, Godrej & Boyce says, “Supporting India’s autochthonous defence program presents us with excellent growth opportunities and we are building capabilities and right partnerships to benefit from it. All our businesses are actively engaging with customers, innovating, investing and expanding with the purpose of making India self-reliant in the defence sector.

In addition, we have also been serving global majors by supplying them complex precision systems. Over the years, exports have been very promising, ranging from 20% to 40% of our defence revenues. This gives us confidence to help achieve the government’s defence export goals.”

The Indian government has recently articulated a vision for defence production, outlining a strategy that would position 20 Indian defence manufacturing companies among the leading 100 defence corporations worldwide by 2047. In order to implement the vision to make India Atmanirbhar in Defence, the government has identified equipment that will be acquired from domestic companies and is committed to facilitate developing an appropriate ecosystem.