Tamil Nadu government said on Wednesday that it would invest Rs 45 crore in the establishment of the nation's first Common Testing Centre for Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones).

The TN Defence Industrial Corridor's main agency is the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), and one of the goals of the corridor is to create an ecosystem for the aerospace and defence sectors.

The non-availability of a Common Testing Centre is an 'entry barrier' for organisations engaged in the aerospace and defence industry, and TIDCO has planned to set up such test centres under the Centre's Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme in Tamil Nadu. For setting up such a Common Testing Centre, TIDCO has floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) for identifying industrial partners.

"A consortium of companies consisting of Keltron, Sense Image Technologies, Standards Testing, and Compliance, and Avishka Retailers had been chosen based on the response to the transparent bid process to partner with TIDCO for establishing the facility at an estimated cost of Rs 45 crore," an official release said.