Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Ajay Bhatt recently informed in Parliament that many significant projects including 155 mm Artillery Gun system ‘Dhanush’, Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’, ‘Akash’ Surface to Air Missile system, INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Chennai, Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC), Arjun Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle, Bridge Laying Tank, Landing Craft Utility, Bi-Modular Charge System (BMCS) for 155 mm Ammunition, Medium Bullet Proof Vehicle (MBPV), Lakshya Parachute for Pilotless Target Aircraft, Thermal Imaging Sight Mark-II for T-72 tank, Offshore Surveillance Ship, Water Jet Fast Attack Craft, Inshore Patrol Vessel, Offshore Patrol Vessel, Fast Interceptor Boat, 25 T Tugs, etc. have been produced in the country under ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government in last few years. All these are crucial vis a vis the situation with our two adversaries.
The Government has taken several policy initiatives and brought reforms to promote self-reliance in defence manufacturing. These policy initiatives are aimed at encouraging indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country, thereby reducing dependency on imports in long run. Important policy initiatives and reforms are:
- DPP-2016 has been revised as Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)- 2020, which is driven by the tenets of Defence Reforms announced as part of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
- In order to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)}’ category has been accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment.
- Ministry of Defence has notified two ‘Positive indigenisation lists’ of total 209 items for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against them. This is a big step towards self-reliance in defence. This would offer a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to manufacture these items using their own design and development capabilities to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces.
- The ‘Make’ Procedure of capital procurement has been simplified. There is a provision for funding upto 70% of development cost by the Government to Indian industry under Make-I category. In addition, there are specific reservations for MSMEs under the ‘Make’ procedure.
- Procedure for ‘Make-II’ category (Industry funded), introduced in DPP-2016 to encourage indigenous development and manufacture of defence equipment has number of industry friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry/individual etc. So far, 60 projects relating to Army, Navy & Air Force, have been accorded approval.
Further, the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence has approved a central sector scheme viz. Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) with budgetary support of Rs 498.78 crore for the next 5 years from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial support to nearly 300 Startups / MSMEs / individual innovators and about 20 Partner incubators through Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO). Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) framework aims to achieve self-reliance and foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace Sector by engaging Industries including MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia. A total of 89 iDEX winners have so far been identified. 35 new problem statements have been launched recently to expand the network, under Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC)-5.
Procedure for ‘Make-II’ category, which is Industry funded, was introduced in DPP-2016 to encourage indigenous development and manufacture of defence equipment. It has a number of industry friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry/individual etc. So far, 60 projects relating to Army, Navy & Air Force, have been accorded ‘Approval in Principle’. The steps taken to strengthen Research and Development in defence manufacturing are:
- Transfer of Technology (ToT) policy with ‘nil’ ToT fee for Development cum Production Partner (DcPP), Production Agency (PA) and Development Partner (DP) has been promulgated by DRDO. No royalty is charged from industry for supply to Indian Armed Forces/Paramilitary/Police Forces. 2% royalty is charged for export and products for commercial markets.
- DRDO is promoting research by providing Grant-in-Aid funding to various Indian R&D institutions/Universities.
- 10 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) are operational in various IITs/Universities across India for directed research in identified areas.
- 108 technologies/products have been exclusively earmarked for R&D leading to product development by Indian industry. DRDO provides necessary support, including testing and certification, wherever necessary/applicable.