Paras Defence to build India’s first optics park in Maharashtra with ₹12,000 crore investment

Defence and space specialist Paras Defence & Space Technologies, in collaboration with the Maharashtra Government and joint venture partners, plans to set up a ₹12,000 crore 'Optics Park' in Navi Mumbai or in the upcoming 'Maha Mumbai' region in Maharashtra. The investment is expected to generated 2,000 jobs.

"India lacks an ecosystem for optics, and we are import-dependent. The park aims to solve this gap. The Maharashtra Government will provide land, and we will bring JV partners to set up units and educational institutions to generate adequate talent," Munjal Sharad Shah, Managing Director and Amit Mahajan, Director, Paras Defence, told Fortune India. Phase 1 of the project will take off by 2027, and the park will be developed within the next seven years in five phases.

Optical technologies are used in diverse fields, from cameras and binoculars to advanced technologies like telescopes, medical imaging, and fiber optic communication. Paras Defence & Space Technologies is specialised in advanced optronic systems for Defence & Space, Defence Electronics, Electro Magnetic Protection Solutions and Heavy Engineering. It had a consolidated revenue of ₹364.66 crore in FY25, up 43.9% year-on-year from last year and a profit after tax (PAT) of ₹61.49 crore, up 104.8% YoY. Paras is sitting on an orderbook of about ₹1,000 crore.

Recently, the company announced the development of magnets for India’s first indigenous Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, as part of a consortium spearheaded by the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER), an autonomous R&D institution under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).

Paras, which spends heavily on R&D, has a contract to design, optimise, fabricate, and qualify optical periscopes for submarines. The company has also developed space cameras, defence dome technologies and space programmes.