NEW DELHI (PTI): There is no proposal to establish any new defence industrial corridor in the country, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said this in written response to a query in the Lok Sabha.

The Government, in its budget for 2018-19, announced setting up of two defence industrial corridors (DICs) to develop a holistic defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country, he said.

One corridor has been established in Uttar Pradesh with six nodes, namely Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Lucknow. The second is in Tamil Nadu with five nodes, namely Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli, he said.

"As per the information received from the Government of Uttar Pradesh, 108 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed with industry/organisation having potential investment of Rs 12,191 crore. Investment of Rs 2,445 crore has already taken place in Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC)," he said.

Further, as per information received from the Government of Tamil Nadu, arrangements have been made with 53 industries for potential investment of Rs 11,794 crore. Investment worth Rs 3,894 crore has already taken place in Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor (TNDIC), the Minister said.

Asked if there is any proposal to establish more defence industrial corridors in the country, Bhatt said there is no proposal to establish any new defence industrial corridor.

In a separate question, the Minister was also asked for details of private companies engaged in defence sector.

"Defence industry sector was opened up in May 2001 up to 100 per cent for Indian private sector participation. Since the opening up of defence sector, till date, a total of 601 industrial licenses have been issued to 368 companies operating in defence sector," the Minister said in a written response.