NEW DELHI: Ahmedabad headquartered Adani Group is seeking a licence to manufacture warships under its newly floated defence arm.The conglomerate is also evaluating options to set up a greenfield shipyard in Gujarat, besides leveraging its significant land holding for a defence manufacturing park, people aware of the development told ET.Adani group had earlier applied to the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) for a licence to manufacture helicopters under the new entity, Adani Defence Systems & Technologies Ltd.The group is also putting in place a team to identify military projects, the persons cited earlier said. Adani group declined to comment.According to industry executives, Adani is yet to tie up with a foreign partner for defence manufacturing, but it is seeking licences in areas of interest that would be leveraged when a final decision is taken on specific projects. The group joins a list of conglomerates that are eyeing India’s defence manufacturing space. For instance, Anil Ambani-led Reliance group is acquiring Pipavav shipyard.One of the persons cited earlier said Adani had evaluated shipyards in the country for possible investment, but not found any attractive proposition. It is learnt that the group is considering setting up a shipyard close to its main asset—India’s largest private port and special economic zone at Mundra.Some executives said that Adani’s preliminary evaluation has shown that given available modern technology and the land that the group has, it could be more economical to construct a new shipyard rather than invest in an existing one, which may be saddled with debt.