The Government has taken the following steps to reduce imports of defence equipment and encourage production of domestic defence equipment in the country:-
- A new category of procurement ‘Buy [Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)]’ has been introduced in DPP-2016 to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment. This category has the highest priority for capital acquisitions. Besides, preference is accorded to ‘Buy (Indian)’, ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ & ‘Make’ categories of capital acquisition over ‘Buy (Global)’ & ‘Buy & Make (Global)’ categories.
- Strategic Partnership model has been introduced in DPP 2016 with the overall aim to progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector to design, develop and manufacture complex weapon systems for the future needs of the Armed Forces.
- The ‘Make’ Procedure has been simplified and projects not exceeding development cost of ` 10 Crore (Government funded) and ` 3 Crore (Industry funded) have been reserved for Indian MSMEs.
- Separate procedure for ‘Make-II’ sub-category has been notified wherein a number of industry friendly provisions such as a minimal documentation, provision for considering suo-moto proposals by industry/individual and assured order on successful prototype development have been introduced.
There is no authoritative and official information on India being the largest importer of defence equipment as no country officially reveals information on import of defence equipment.
During the last three financial years (2016-17 to 2018-19), 149 contract have been concluded for procurement of defence equipment, of these 91 contracts have been concluded with Indian vendors.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is involved in design and development of strategic, complex and security sensitive systems in the fields of missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, radars, electronic warfare systems, sonars combat vehicles, combat aircraft, sensors etc for the Armed Forces as per their specific Qualitative Requirements for enhancing the national security of the country. Value of systems/products/technologies developed/upgraded by DRDO and inducted into the Services or in the process of induction stands over Rs.2.75 Lakh Cr.
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik in a written reply to Shri Vasanthakumar Hin Lok Sabha today.
