PSUs Pose Boosters to Aatma Nirbhar Bharat: Surendra Kumar

Surendra Kumar, Assistant General Manager, Microwave Electronics Division, Central Electronics Ltd (CEL)

Elets Technomedia, to underline the significant growth and development in India in the past few years, organised India Transformation Summit from July 10 to July 12. Surendra Kumar, Assistant General Manager, Microwave Electronics Division, Central Electronics Ltd (CEL) addressed the summit on how PSUs have contributed in India’s transformation.

Mr Kumar briefed about the PSU stating that it was established in 1974 under the Ministry of Science and Technology. “The PSU aimed to commercialise various technologies being developed in the different labs and institutes”, he told.

Taking up the core discussion agenda, Mr Kumar said, “The CEL is already on the path of ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ and we are producing and manufacturing different technologies for defence, public use, railway signalling and systems, etc.” Elaborating on the technologies CEL is developing for the defence forces, he added, “For defence, we are manufacturing different components which are critical for the India radars. So far we have contributed around three lakh component supplies to the defence which is approximately worth Rs 2000 crore. We are the only in the country who can manufacture these components.” Further, CEL is also producing various substrates. These components and products are of high importance for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) programmes, he added.

Mr Kumar also told that many other material-based components are produced by CEL. CEL is one of the organisations which is well equipped with facilities and equipment to produce such technologies like high-frequency materials, defence components, etc. Adding on he said, “Another area where we excel is railway signalling. We are producing systems for monitoring the railway tracks, controlling the train traffic.” CEL is known across the country for its exceptional work in photovoltaic cell. “We have pioneered in commercialising solar modules, solar cells, etc in 1979 when the solar cell was manufactured first time in the country and we are still doing it”, added Mr Kumar.

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Talking about the present-day development work carried by CEL, Mr Kumar said, “Currently, we are manufacturing radomes for missiles and bulletproof jackets for the army, high-frequency materials, ceramic substrates, etc.” Starting from top to the end product, the entire processing is being followed at CEL, added Mr Kumar.

Speaking on how CEL is continuing its functions during the Coronavirus pandemic situation, Mr Kumar highlighted that considering the scenario and the need, CEL came up with mask manufacturing machines and ventilators. Further, Mr Kumar said, “So we have seen that in the past two to three months several manufacturers have come up for ventilator manufacturing but many of them faced issues for components like sensors, flow meters, etc. As a PSU involved in developing various technologies, we have the capacity to develop these sensors, valves, flow meters, etc. So we came up with these technologies.” CEL is developing such components in-house and within a month these will be out in the market for those manufacturing ventilators, he added.

Resting his words he addressed a few areas where PSUs’ presence is not much. Mr Kumar said, “Some of the areas where PSUs are still missing are manufacturing wafers for solar applications. Hence, I am requesting other PSUs to come together to take initiative in manufacturing waefer for solar applications.  Another is the foundry programme. Our country has no foundry at the moment so we do not have the component. Air is another area. These areas are still critical and we are dependent on other countries for these areas.

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