India’s Defence Ministry set up testing facility in Mechanical & Material domain in Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor

(Forelines) – The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on July 28, 2025,signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi under the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) to develop a cutting-edge testing facility in the Mechanical & Material sector of the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor in Tiruchirappalli, India’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Senior MoD officials and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO) signed the Memorandum of Understanding in front of MoD Secretary (Defence Production), Shri Sanjeev Kumar.

Up to 75% of government financing is provided by the DTIS as “Grant-in-Aid,” with the other 25% coming from the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which is made up of State and Central Governments as well as Indian private companies.

“For the Mechanical & Material domain testing facility, Micro Labs, a private entity, is the lead SPV member. Other members of the SPV consortium are Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited, Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Vaidheswaran Industries. Upon the completion of the project, it will provide advanced testing equipment and services to both government and private industry, thus giving a boost to ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence,” Ministry of Defence said.

“With an outlay of Rs 400 Crore, the DTIS was launched by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, to set up state-of-the-art testing facilities in collaboration with private industry and Central/State Government,” Ministry of Defence added.

Through domestic defense manufacturing and a decrease in the importation of military hardware, the goal is to advance Aatmnirbharta. To support the aerospace and defense sectors within the Defence Industrial Corridors, seven testing facilities were approved, three in Uttar Pradesh and four in Tamil Nadu.