The Uttar Pradesh government has signed more than 150 defence manufacturing deals worth Rs 25,000 crore as the state administration eyes India’s burgeoning defence export basket.

India’s annual defence production hit a record high of almost Rs 1.27 trillion in 2023-24 (FY24), up 16.7 per cent over the previous year’s figure of about Rs 1.09 trillion, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The defence projects are coming up in the mega UP Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) spanning six nodes of Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Aligarh, Chitrakoot and Agra districts.

These projects are estimated to create 40,000 fresh jobs, said a senior UP government official.

“We have signed 154 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with different companies, while about 85 deals are in the pipeline at the evaluation stage,” he added.

The Corridor’s nodal agency UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) continues to acquire swathes of land for allotment to industrial groups. UPEIDA has already acquired 1,700 hectares of land, while more than 40 companies have been allocated land.