HARNESSING INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION FOR STRATEGIC DEFENCE GOALS

Defence manufacturing is strategic to building a technologically empowered, self-reliant nation. The Government of India has launched the ‘Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)’ scheme to foster innovation and technological advancement in the defence and aerospace sectors by engaging innovators and entrepreneurs in developing advanced products and solutions.

Defence exports have grown severalfold, opening up global market opportunities for Indian industries. Significantly, this transformation is poised to be a game-changer for the Indian machine tool industry, as building such air-defence systems demands ultra-precision components, exotic materials, sophisticated fabrication, and highly engineered products.

This creates opportunities for domestic machine builders to develop and offer precision and ultra-precision machines, robots, cobots and additive manufacturing machines. Certainly, these developments will ignite a new wave of innovation in indigenous machine tool manufacturing, while we have a perfect opportunity to align industrial growth with strategic defence goals.

The Indian machine tool industry continues its upward trajectory, with production in FY 2024-25 estimated to have increased by 5 percent to reach `14,286 crore (US$ 1.7 billion) while consumption is estimated to have increased by 16 percent to reach `31,500 crore (US$ 3.7 billion) during the period.

To promote the growth of machine tool industry across regions, IMTMA organized the fifth edition of Delhi Machine Tool Expo (DMTX 2025) and the second edition of Factory Equipment Expo (FACTEQ 2025) from May 9 – 12, 2025, at Bharat Mandapam (Pragati Maidan), New Delhi. Both DMTX 2025 and FACTEQ 2025 concluded on an encouraging note.

Looking ahead, IMTMA is organizing the eighth edition of the Symposium on Automation & Robotics 2025, an event that sheds light on the trends in automation and robotics, from June 4 – 5, 2025, at Auto Cluster Exhibition Center, Pune.

IMTMA is organizing the eighth edition of the Symposium on Automation & Robotics 2025, an event that sheds light on the trends in automation and robotics, from June 4 – 5, 2025, at Auto Cluster Exhibition Center, Pune. The event offers an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and discover the innovations that will shape the future of manufacturing.

I warmly encourage readers to mark their calendars for this Symposium as it offers an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and discover the innovations that will shape the future of manufacturing.

Wishing everyone an insightful and engaging read of this edition of MMI.

Rajendra S Rajamane
President
IMTMA