‘Defence Procurement aims at making India self-reliant’

The Defence Procurement Procedure 2016, which is expected to be promulgated soon, aims at making India self-reliant in defence equipment, a senior defence official said here on Tuesday. 

“The Make in India initiative by government of India is envisaged to develop skills and reduce dependency on foreign OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in various areas of manufacturing, including electronic systems,” Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee PP Reddy said. 

“A step in this direction is the much-expected promulgation of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016,” he said. 

Reddy said DPP-16 is likely to be issued soon with “path-breaking and game-changing” reforms, focusing on indigenisation, Make in India, growth of MSMEs, skill development, job creation and technology adoption.

“Above all, it aims to cut down the process and time required to realise state-of-art defence equipment,” he added.

Reddy was speaking at the inaugural function of Fourth International Conference on Electronic Warfare-2016 here, organised by Association of Old Crows (AOC), India Chapter.

He said monetary probity, accountability and transparency remain priority in DPP, with emphasis on trust. Even blacklisting had been addressed to avoid losing operational capability for the defence forces, he said.

DPP tries to address concerns of services, the primary users, R&D organisations, manufacturers and suppliers. It deals with transfer of critical technology, high-tech manufacturing, employment generation, skilling and export promotion, he said.

Observing that defence procurements cannot be equated with standard open market commercial procurements, he said, at times, national interest would be the overriding criteria in choice of military equipment.