Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed the importance of customisation and uniqueness of defence systems for having a surprise element over the adversaries. “Uniqueness and surprise elements could only happen when the defence equipment is developed in our country. This year’s Budget has a blueprint for developing a vibrant ecosystem, from research, design and development to manufacturing, within the country,” he stated.
Mr. Modi was addressing a post-Budget webinar, titled ‘Aatmnirbharta in Defence - Call to Action’, organised by the Ministry of Defence during which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced steps for implementing various measures announced in the Budget aimed at giving greater level playing field for the private industry and start-ups.
Mr. Modi said, “Transparent, time-bound, pragmatic and fair systems of trial, testing and certification are essential to the growth of a vibrant defence industry. For this, an independent system can prove useful in solving problems.” The recent years’ effort to strengthen Aatmnirbharta in the defence sector was clearly visible in this year’s Budget, he noted.
Adequate facilities
Mr. Singh said, The potential growth of the defence industry and opening up of defence R&D for the private industry, start-ups and academia warranted adequate facilities and infrastructure for testing, trial and certification of indigenous products. “For meeting the wideranging requirements of trial, testing and certification, the government has decided to set up an independent nodal umbrella body.”
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the Budget speech that in the annual budget of 2022-23, defence R&D will be opened up for industry, start-ups and academia and 25% of defence R&D budget has also been earmarked for this purpose.
Mr. Modi said the 25% was kept aside so that the private sector could come on a par with the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and defence PSUs (Public Sector Units) and a special purpose vehicle model had also been arranged in the Budget. “This will establish the role of the private industry as a partner beyond just a vendor or supplier,” he pointed out.
Positive indigenisation lists
The Defence Ministry had, so far, released positive indigenisation lists, items which could only be procured domestically, of more than 200 defence platforms and equipment. After this announcement, contracts worth ₹54,000 crore have been signed for domestic procurement, and the procurement process of more than ₹4.5 lakh crore worth equipment was at various stages. “The third [indigenisation] list is expected soon,” he said.
The long-drawn process of weapon procurement often resulted in a scenario where weapons could get outdated by the time they were commissioned. Similarly, competition among the defence manufacturers for contracts often led to money-focus and corruption and a lot of confusion was created with regard to quality and the desirability of weapons. “Solution for this is in ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’”, he stated. About 70% of the defence budget had been kept for the domestic industry only.
Referring to defence exports, Mr. Modi explained, “We have increased defence exports six times in the last 5-6 years. Today, we are providing ‘Made in India’ defence equipment and services to more than 75 countries.”
Five projects
Mr. Singh said, “We would reform the quality assurance process, so that it is non-intrusive, prevention-based and free from the ‘inspector raj’. We would create a monitoring mechanism under the Director General-Acquisition, with representatives from all the three Services to monitor the budget earmarked, specifically for the private industry and start-ups, so that it is fully utilised. For promoting industry led R&D efforts, I would sanction at least five projects under Make-1 during the financial year 2022-23.”
Mr. Modi observed that as a result of the government’s encouragement to Make in India, more than 350 new industrial licences have been issued for defence manufacturing in the last seven years.
He asserted that cyber security was no longer confined to the digital world but has become a subject of national security. “The more we deploy our formidable IT [information technology] power in the defence sector, the more confident we will be regarding our security,” he added.
