Ajay Kumar
Former Defence Secretary
Government of India
Going Beyond the Call of Duty
Ajay Kumar
Former Defence Secretary, Government of India
With ‘Make in India’ at his heart, Ajay Kumar has pushed both the electronics and the defence manufacturing industry in India to emerge as a leading player on the global map. During his time, the defence exports scaled up to Rs 13,000 cr for 2021-22. Undoubtedly, the credit for this goes squarely to his vision of introduction of modern warfare capabilities, disruptive technologies and innovations. He established the iDEX initiative to spur a cost-effective defence start-up ecosystem, clearing Rs 498 cr proposal, fostering innovation and technology development in support of 300 start-up and 20 partner incubators. Earlier at the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) under Electronics Manufacturing Cluster scheme, as a first he approved 500 acre cluster in Andhra Pradesh set up a cost of Rs 340 cr. Other initiatives included, Preferential Market Access Policy and creation of Electronics Development Fund. It is due to his efforts that electronic system design and manufacturing in India under ‘Make in India’ became a reality and has witnessed steady flow of investments.
