Author: Crown Group

Crown Group Defence, which is into providing MRO [Maintenance Repair Overhaul] support in the areas of Marine Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Military Engineering and Weapon systems to the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Land and Aviation forces, has announced its foray into offering MRO services to merchant shipping industry to capitalise on the Government’s “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives.

The group has offered to provide MRO services to global OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] in line with the prevailing policies.

It is also planning to expand into shipbuilding and is in talks to acquire shipyards in the west coast where it has large facilities, top executives of the group said.

Crown Group Defence currently offers its services to the entire spectrum covering aerospace, maritime and land defence and now plans to scale up be a $1 billion enterprise by 2028 through various activities.

“Our Marine division, comprising of Dynatron Services Pvt. Ltd. (DSPL) & OSK India Pvt. Ltd. (OIPL), which is catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian Naval ships and Submarines, will now extend its fully functional Defence/Naval ship repair facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai for the indigenous MRO of merchant ships” Vice Admiral Paras Nath (Retd.), Group President, Crown Group Defence said in an interview.

“Our entire range of services which is currently being offered to Naval ships such as hull, engineering and electrical repairs will now be offered to merchant shipping industry,” he added adding the group has mobilised the right talent to harness the growth opportunities.

On the group’s entry into the civilian segment, Commodore Rakesh Anand (Retd.), Head of Marine Division, said “Both DSPL and OIPL have partnerships with global OEMs whose product range falls in the dual use category which is civil and defence.”

“The product range namely Hydraulic Systems, System Valves, Pumps, Compressors, Gearboxes, Thrusters, Radar, and electronic equipment are the applicable for civil and defence use. Thus, apart from undertaking services for foreign origin equipment installed in Naval ships and submarines, merchant ship repairs can also be undertaken involving various systems,” he added.

“The thrust towards diversifying into the civil MRO services has been initiated both by DSPL and OIPL. While OIPL has made forays into electronic repair requirement of the Indian Railway, DSPL is aiming to venture into undertaking repairs of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) ships and meet the requirements of ONGC, HPCL ” said Commodore Anand.

Vikas Banga, Group’s chief strategy officer said “Global OEMs that are looking for organised players to help them maintain & service their equipment and provide quality service to their customers in India, find it easy to partner with us because of our world class MRO facilities & workshops spread across India and experience in working with International OEMs.”
“For International OEMs it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment,” he said.

On Thursday Dynatron Services Pvt Ltd, signed an MoU with WILO Mather and Platt Pumps Pvt. Ltd., one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps and pump systems, to support indigenisation of equipment for Indian Naval ships and submarines.

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Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd.) AVSM, VSM, Group President, Crown Group Defence talks about India laying impetus on indigenization of Defence MRO and how Crown Group Defence is contributing to making India’ Aatmanirbhar’ in Defence MRO & Manufacturing Ship Repair Facility in Karwar.

Crown Group Defence successfully handled MRO job for India’s only aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikramaditya’, amphibious warship ‘INS Jalashwa’ and various other Marine, Aerospace and Avionics projects.

1. Tell us about Crown Group Defence & its Defence Companies
Crown Group Defence started with a vision to support the Indian defence forces in the maintenance of high-value equipment supplied by international OEMs by setting up maintenance and repair facilities in collaboration with the OEMs. With active businesses in Defence Engineering for over 40 years, Crown Group Defence has now established itself as one of the most reliable players in the MRO sector. We are now scaling up our defence businesses in alignment with the Atmanaribhar Bharat vision as a strategic partner with OEMs to support the defence forces through our various divisions.

The Group has established three verticals to service the needs of Operational Readiness of the Indian defence sector through its group companies, which are:

1. ‘Dynatron Services Private Limited’ (Dynatron) and ‘OSK India Private Limited’ (OIPL) for Marine Engineering
2.‘Aviatech Enterprises Private Limited’ (Aviatech) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (Zealtek) for Aerospace and Avionics
3.‘C1 India Private Limited’ for Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Land forces
2.‘Aviatech Enterprises Private Limited’ (Aviatech) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (Zealtek) for Aerospace and Avionics
3.‘C1 India Private Limited’ for Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Land forces

2. What all services you offer to the Indian Navy
Crown Group Defence’s core philosophy is to deliver on the “Make in India” vision by partnering with global OEMs to induct the latest technologies providing manufacturing and MRO services for critical equipment in use by Indian defence forces. We have created local MRO workshops that reduce the time required for critical support and increase the availability of mission-critical equipment.

Dynatron Services, which has been serving the Indian Navy & Coast Guard for more than four decades, provides ship repair, general engineering, ship modernization, ship refits, marketing & after-sales support for mechanical & electronic systems. Apart from other projects, we were supporting MRO activities for the Indian Navy’s only amphibious warship from the United States, INS Jalashwa, and we are also involved in providing support to India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Naval Warships, Submarines & Aircrafts.

Dynatron Services has sole authorization for repairs and maintenance of Gearboxes & thrusters from ZF Marine (Germany) & exclusive partnership with Kubota engines Japan coupled with Mase Generators, Italy, for providing MRO services to the Indian Navy.

OSK India has a state-of-the-art electronics repair facility in Mumbai specializing in the repair of electronic modules and weapon systems of international origin. We have recently repaired critical weapon equipment for the Indian Navy and currently working on the next order.

Aviatech specializes in Defence Aerospace MRO and Aviation Engineering services, including engineering design, Manufacturing, Product development & Production for Indigenisation. Aviatech and Zealtek are currently providing maintenance support and repairs for major Naval Aviation assets, including repair of LRUs and calibration of UAVs for the Indian Navy.

3. What all facilities have Crown Group Defence set up in India?
Crown Group Defence has set up five world-class facilities & workshops pan India for taking on specialized activities based on customer requirements at each location. We have one of the largest facilities in Karwar, which is Asia’s biggest Defence Naval Base, to take on mechanical and electro-mechanical repairs primarily for the Indian Navy. In Goa, we have set up two facilities catering to Defence Aerospace MRO and Avionics repairs, including a NABL, an accredited calibration laboratory.

We have recently set up an electronics facility in Mumbai where we are doing repairs to complex weapon equipment, PCBs and electronic modules.

In addition, we have two ship repair workshops in Chennai and Vizag with satellite offices in Cochin, Port Blair, Calcutta, Andaman & Nicobar. Our corporate office is in Delhi, which coordinates and provides strategic decision support to our customers.

4. How Crown Group is contributing to making India’ Aatmanirbhar’ in defence MRO & Manufacturing
Over the years, India has procured multiple military assets from foreign OEMs that are mission-critical and important for being battle ready. Maintaining these defence equipment supplied by foreign OEMs is an expensive and time-consuming affair as these have to be mostly sent overseas for repairs. Crown Group Defence is one of the only organized and fully equipped players with MRO facilities on both the western and eastern coasts and support offices across the coastal cities in India.

Leading the way in making India self-reliant in defence MRO manufacturing, Crown Group Defence has also opened its MRO & manufacturing facilities to international companies to partner and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up MRO & manufacturing base in the country, keeping abreast with the ‘Make in India’ strategy, thereby leading to reduced timeframes for repair and enhanced operational availability of assets.

We also have a ‘Make in India Vertical’ within the Group to identify upcoming critical equipment requirements of the Armed Forces and focus on fulfilling these requirements through Indigenisation under the ‘Make in India’ program.

5. Why have the International Defence OEMs chosen Crown Group Defence to partner in India
Global OEMs that are looking for organized players to help them maintain & service their equipment, providing quality service to their customers in India, find it easy to partner with Crown Group. This is because of the professional team with experienced personnel from defence, our world-class facilities & capabilities along with ongoing robust partnerships with some of the major international Defence OEMs for MRO of Indian naval marine and aviation assets. All these together put Crown Group Defence in a strong position to support any foreign company in setting up their manufacturing/MRO base in India and taking forward the vision under Make in India.

For International OEMs, it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment.
We are extremely quality conscious; we deliver on time and have received several commendations from both the customers and international OEMs.

Appreciation of the outstanding MRO services and on-time delivery of critical projects has helped the Group secure a good deal of MRO contracts from the Indian Armed Forces, including the Coast Guard.

6. Does Crown Group Defence plan to indigenously manufacture Defence components & equipment in India?
Yes, we are working towards establishing indigenous manufacturing facilities for components and spares that have higher volumes or are categorized as consumables.
Keeping with Govt’s focus on promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing and positioning India as an exporter of military hardware, Crown Group’s focus is on indigenization through both ties up with international OEMs and in-house research and development.

Crown Group is authorized to manufacture landing gear spares for fighter jets. Group is currently working on manufacturing and cloning PCBs for weapon systems through its Mumbai facilities.
In a drive to support the indigenization of equipment for Indian Naval Ships and Submarines, Crown Group has tied up with WILO Pumps, one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps & pump systems and Meru Pumps based out of Ahmedabad, helping them customize their products to defence specifications.

We are focused on engaging with academia across India to bring out technologically advanced solutions that will strengthen & modernize the Indian Defence sector and have tied up with Amrita University to promote Defence R&D. We are also in advance talks for collaboration with IITs & other reputed Universities for various Defence projects.

7. Is Crown Group also into export of Defence equipment
Crown Group has an export division under the name of Crown Corporation. The Group has exported Indian manufactured Submarine batteries and is authorized to export torpedo, missile, aircraft batteries and battery management systems in addition to indigenized multi-functional displays for aircraft.

Crown Group has been participating in National and International Defence Fares/Exhibitions showcasing these products to grow the export business.

8. What are your views on the steps taken by the Indian Govt. to make India self-reliant in Defence MRO? Do you think India is on the right track to becoming a Defence MRO hub?
Govt of India’s initiative in making Indian defence forces MRO self-reliant is indeed laudable. “Make in India” thrust will pay rich dividends in times to come. It is also a very good opportunity for MSMEs to grow. To conclude, India is on the right track to becoming a defence MRO hub.

9. What are your future expansion/growth plans
Crown Group Defence plans to become the most sought-after Indian company for the global OEMs to partner in India for indigenization and Make in India plans of our defence forces. With an experienced workforce having decades of experience and infrastructure facilities available in terms of workshops in several major locations, access to shipyards, airport infrastructure, and Centres of Excellence for all three services, Crown Group is already the preferred partner of choice for global OEMs.

The thrust of Crown Group Defence is to build up on all three fronts, Marine, Aviation and Land Systems. Our Marine Engineering division has been strong serving the Indian defence for more than 40 years. The experience, trained manpower, and infrastructure are already existing, and that’s where the organization’s thrust is. We expect our marine sector to be the biggest in our Group, led by Cmde Rakesh Anand (Ex-Chairman and MD, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders), as we look to acquire docking facilities on the Western Coastline. Our aviation company Aviatech Enterprises is going to expand much faster as aviation orders in the pipeline materialize. Regarding Army systems our associate company is supporting the tank production in India and organizing the modernization and indigenization of critical components as well as setting up a Centre of Excellence to ensure the subcontractors produce quality components for our armoured vehicles.

Crown Group’s focus is on indigenization of a wide range of Defence engineering products, setting up Manufacturing facilities under the ‘Make in India’ programme to undertake licenced production of regularly required spares by the Indian Navy, and setting up Fleet support centres at all major Naval stations to extend value-added services to the Indian Navy including services of Specialists from OEMs.

We also plan to strengthen our export business.

Crown Group Defence, dedicated to supporting India in its ‘Make in India’ & ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ journey, is focused on engaging with academia across India to bring out technologically advanced solutions that will strengthen & modernize the Indian Defence sector.

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Leading the way in making India self-reliant in defence MRO & manufacturing, Crown Group Defence, one of India’s largest independent defence MRO major and a strategic partner to Indian defence forces invites international companies to partner and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up an MRO & manufacturing base in the country keeping abreast with the ‘Make in India’ strategy.

“We are open to partnerships with global OEMs through a range of cooperation models such as joint ventures, joint manufacturing, technology licensing, contract manufacturing, and know-how transfer arrangement etc,” said Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd) AVSM, VSM, Group President, Crown Group Defence.

“The scope of work includes maintenance, modernisation, repair, servicing, design, development, manufacturing & technology partnerships with global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) providing defence equipment to Indian Defence Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force) who are seeking an opportunity to establish or expand their supply chains or MRO/manufacturing base in India to help make India “AatmaNirbhar” in defence MRO & Manufacturing,” said Vice Adm Paras Nath.

The Group President also said, “Our world-class facilities & capabilities along with ongoing robust partnerships with some of the major international Defence OEMs for MRO of Indian naval marine and aviation assets has put Crown Group Defence in a strong position to support any foreign company, in setting up their manufacturing/MRO base in India and taking forward the vision under Make in India.”

“This intensely increases the scope and scale of maintenance, repair and overhaul undertaken in the country and demonstrates both the companies’ commitment in helping make India Aatmanirbhar in defence and aerospace,” he further added.

With the release of three lists of defence items to be banned for import (positive indigenisation list) govt’s objectives of self-reliance in the defence sector, and promoting exports of military equipment, the defence minister Rajnath Singh has made it clear that India’s self-reliance in the defence sector does not mean working in isolation from the rest of the world.

It means working in our own country with their (foreign firms) active participation and support. This has opened up a huge opportunity for international OEMs to come & set up their base in India.

Crown Group Defence provides support to marine engineering, aerospace engineering, military engineering and weapon systems to the Indian Navy, coast guard, land and aviation forces with pan India presence across 12 cities with MRO facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa, Visakhapatnam and Chennai and satellite offices in Cochin, Port Blair, Kolkata, Andaman & Nicobar and corporate offices in Delhi is contributing to India’s ever-growing defence & aerospace requirements.

“Global OEMs that are looking for organised players to help them maintain & service their equipment and provide quality service to their customers in India find it easy to partner with Crown Group because of their world-class MRO facilities & workshops spread across pan India and their experience in working with international OEMs. For International OEMs it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment,” said Vikas Banga, Group’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Banga further said, “We are extremely quality conscious, we deliver on time and have received several commendations from both the customers and international OEMs.”

The group has three verticals to service the needs of operational readiness of the Indian defence sector through its group companies, which are:

1. ‘Dynatron Services Private Limited’ (DSPL) and ‘OSK India Private Limited’ (OIPL) for marine engineering
2. ‘Aviatech Enterprises Private Limited'(AEPL) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (ZEPL) for aerospace and avionics
3. ‘C1 India Private Limited’ for cyber security and online product support.
‘Dynatron Services Private Limited’ (DSPL) and ‘OSK India Private Limited’ (OIPL) are one of the only organized & fully equipped players that are present across all the coastal cities catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian naval ships, aircraft carrier, warships and the submarines at the naval base with their fully-functional state of the art facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa and Chennai.

“Maintaining the defence equipment supplied by foreign OEMs is an expensive and time-consuming affair for the Indian defence sector as these have to be mostly sent overseas for the repairs. Through such partnerships with global OEMs, our aim is to bring the latest MRO & manufacturing technologies to India, cut the lead times, and provide product support at the right time at economical prices to the Indian Defence forces to help keep them battle-ready,” said Cmde Rakesh Anand (Retd), Head of Marine Division, Crown Group Defence

“Crown Group Defence in their commitment to promote Defence R&D has tied up with Amrita University for developing Indigenous Defence Technologies under Make in India programme and is in advance talks for collaboration with IITs & other reputed universities for various defence projects in the coming days with the objective of meeting the burgeoning skill needs of India’s fast-growing defence sector,” Cmde Rakesh Anand further added.

Appreciation of its outstanding MRO services and on-time delivery of critical projects has helped the group secure a good deal of MRO contracts from the Indian Navy, coast guard, land and aviation forces.

Crown Group Defence, the strategic partner to Indian defence forces supporting the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative will showcase its indigenously developed technology innovations in manufacturing, maintenance, modernisation, repair and servicing for both Defence & Civil at The INMEX SMM India Expo from June 1 to June 3, 2022, at Jio World Convention Centre, BKC, Mumbai.

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Dynatron Services Pvt Ltd, a Crown Group Defence company, a strategic partner to Indian Defence Forces supporting the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative in a drive to support indigenization of equipment for Indian Naval Ships and Submarines signed an MoU with M/s. WILO Mather and Platt Pumps Pvt. Ltd, one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps and pump systems.

Through the tie-up both Dynatron Services & WILO Pumps will work together towards:

Refurbishing/Renewal of automatic system for pump control for Ship lift / Naval Ship Repair Yard, Karwar
WILO has a well-established R&D division, Metallurgy department and a Foundry and together with DSPL will support indigenisation of pumps for Indian Naval ships and submarines
To cooperate with each other in jointly working towards providing after sales support for WILO pumps including maintenance, repairs and supply of spares, and to explore new business opportunities with Navy, Coast Guard and non-defense clients.

“We are delighted to partner with WILO Pumps in their quest to build innovation-led customised solutions to serve the Marine & Naval forces. We are excited by WILO Pumps compelling growth story and believe the company stands to benefit from the ‘Aatmanirbahr Bharat’ initiative in India, realizing the potential of ‘Make in India,” said Cmde Rakesh Anand (Retd.), Head of Marine Division, Crown Group Defence

“We are excited to partner with Crown Group which has a rich history of serving the Indian Defence forces. We have been longing to get into new markets like Defence and commercial marine and Dynatron Services has well established themselves in this business for many years & are the most reliable partner for us to join hands with. This tie-up will help us make inroads into the Defence and Marine industry.” Said Mr. Sudhir Joshi, VP Sales, WILO Mather and Platt Pumps Pvt. Ltd.

Dynatron Services Pvt Ltd is one of the only organized & fully equipped players in India that are present across all the coastal cities catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian naval ships. DSPL is engaged in the business of Refits of Defense Coast Guard and Merchant Marine vessels. They also provide aftermarket support on behalf of reputed manufacturers of gearbox, thrusters, diesel engines etc.

WILO is a 100-year-old pump manufacturer having a sizable market share in all kinds of pumps used for various shore applications. WILO specializes in higher capacity pumps and control systems used in water management and pumping arrangements by Municipal Corporations, Civic bodies, River Authorities, City Planners, Dry dock projects and also in river integration projects.

WILO has large installations of Pumps in all Naval yards. Eg Chilled water Pumps in SBC-Vizag, Sea Water Pump House, SDD & NDD in ND-V, Pumps in ND Mumbai. Fire water pumps and Pumps in shiplift pump house at NSRY Karwar.

Their new projects include pumps for SEABIRD project Phase II, Projects under execution at Rambilli and some pumps for INS -Kalinga. (A total of more than 550 heavy duty WILO pumps are fitted in the Navy facilities in old/new projects.)

“As a strategic partner to the Indian defence forces, Crown Group Defence is committed to supporting India in its indigenization & ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ journey. This tie-up reflects our commitment to promote the indigenous industry.” said Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd.) Group President, Crown Group Defence.

Crown Group Defence with active businesses in Defence Engineering for over 40 years, providing support to Marine Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Military Engineering and Weapon systems to the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Land and Aviation forces has established itself as one of the most reliable players in the MRO sector for defence services.

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Crown Group Defence, with over 40 years of experience in providing MRO support to Marine Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Military Engineering and Weapon systems to the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Land and Aviation forces has announced their foray into the $250 bn Indian Shipping and Maritime Industry.

“The Marine division of the Crown Group Defence, comprising of Dynatron Services Pvt. Ltd. (DSPL) & OSK India Pvt. Ltd. (OIPL), one of the only organized & fully equipped players present across all the coastal cities catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian naval ships and the submarines will now extend their fully functional state of the art Defence/Naval Ship Repair facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai for the indigenous MRO of Merchant Shipping & Maritime Industry.” Said Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd.) Group President, Crown Group Defence.

Talking about their plans to enter the merchant shipping industry, Cmde Rakesh Anand (Retd.), Head of Marine Division, Crown Group Defence said “Both Crown Group Defence Companies DSPL and OIPL have partnerships with global OEMs amongst which there are those whose product range falls in the dual use category (i.e. civil and defence). The product range of such companies are namely Hydraulic Systems, System valves, Pumps, Compressors, Gearboxes, Thrusters, Radar, electronic equipment etc. Thus, apart from undertaking services for foreign origin equipment of Naval Ships and Submarines, merchant ship repairs can also be undertaken across various systems.”

“The thrust towards diversifying into the civil MRO services has been initiated both by DSPL & OIPL. While OIPL has made forays into electronic repair requirement of the Indian Railway, DSPL is aiming to venture into undertaking repairs of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) Ships and meet the requirements of ONGC, HPCL etc.” said Cmde Rakesh Anand.

Talking about extending the MRO services for civil side, the Group President said “Our entire range of services which is currently being offered to Naval ships such as Hull, Engineering and Electrical Repairs etc. will be offered to Merchant shipping industry.”

“Global OEMs that are looking for organised players to help them maintain & service their equipment and providing quality service to their customers in India find it easy to partner with Crown Group because of our world class MRO facilities & workshops spread across pan India and experience in working with International OEMs.

For International OEMs it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment.” said Mr. Vikas Banga, Group’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Mr Banga further said, “We are extremely quality conscious, we deliver on time and have received several commendations from both the customers and international OEMs.”
Crown Group Defence is also planning to expand into shipbuilding and are in talks to acquire tactical shipyards in the west coast where they have large facilities.

On 2nd June, Thursday, Dynatron Services Pvt Ltd signed an MoU with WILO Mather and Platt Pumps Pvt. Ltd, one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps and pump systems, to support indigenisation of equipment for Indian Naval ships and submarines.

Crown Group Defence offers its services as a preferred and reliable partner for collaboration and creation of Joint Ventures in the entire spectrum covering Aerospace, Maritime and Defence. Leading the way in making India self-reliant in MRO & manufacturing, Crown Group invites international companies to partner and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up an MRO & manufacturing base in the country keeping abreast with the ‘Make in India’ strategy.

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