Govt gives Make in India push for defence equipment
5 Nov 2014 5:47 AM IST
Concerned over failing to meet targets by the various ordnance factories and in an attempt to take prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ vision a step forward, the union Defence Ministry has asked all such factories to lay emphasis on procuring good quality raw materials locally rather that banking on global suppliers.
At a time when the new NDA government’s approval of 49 per cent investment through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), has been hailed by traders across the nation.
Sources said, Defence Ministry has recently made some changes in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) to bring the manufacturing targets of several factories on track. ‘It was often experienced that due to unavailability of raw materials, which are usually imported from other countries, production related to defence equipment gets hampered. But now the Indian manufacturers have been asked to promote Indian raw material after being cleared by the Quality Assurance department,’ well-placed sources said.
The issue was also raised by Modi in his recent interaction with the secretaries at 7 RCR. He asked defence secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, in the presence of minister Arun Jaitley, to expedite the process of production to meet the target. PM also asked him to explore the option of ‘exporting defence goods’, but he stressed that unless they are meeting the nation’s target, these factories will not be able to concentrate on exporting such items.
It was learnt that BJP’s Strategic Action Committee (SAC) too addressed the issue of promoting local units to strengthen the production of Ordnance factories in India. Well-placed sources said, member of SAC Lt. Gen. Surendra Pratap Tanwar (Retd), has already taken up the matter with the Ministry of Home and other concerned ministries to ease out the log jam.
To encourage domestic manufacturing the ministry has pruned the list of defence products that require industrial licensing and finalisation of security manual. ‘The whole idea is to achieve self-reliance in defence production to meet the target as well as to uplift the local traders,’ sources said.
In a file sent to the PMO, the Defence Ministry has admitted that Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) as a whole has met the targets for the year 2011-12 but during 2012-13 and 2013-14 the actual achievement has been less than the target due to delay in receipt of raw material. ‘OFB is making all efforts to meet the target for the current year,’ the report reads.
At a time when the new NDA government’s approval of 49 per cent investment through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), has been hailed by traders across the nation.
Sources said, Defence Ministry has recently made some changes in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) to bring the manufacturing targets of several factories on track. ‘It was often experienced that due to unavailability of raw materials, which are usually imported from other countries, production related to defence equipment gets hampered. But now the Indian manufacturers have been asked to promote Indian raw material after being cleared by the Quality Assurance department,’ well-placed sources said.
The issue was also raised by Modi in his recent interaction with the secretaries at 7 RCR. He asked defence secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, in the presence of minister Arun Jaitley, to expedite the process of production to meet the target. PM also asked him to explore the option of ‘exporting defence goods’, but he stressed that unless they are meeting the nation’s target, these factories will not be able to concentrate on exporting such items.
It was learnt that BJP’s Strategic Action Committee (SAC) too addressed the issue of promoting local units to strengthen the production of Ordnance factories in India. Well-placed sources said, member of SAC Lt. Gen. Surendra Pratap Tanwar (Retd), has already taken up the matter with the Ministry of Home and other concerned ministries to ease out the log jam.
To encourage domestic manufacturing the ministry has pruned the list of defence products that require industrial licensing and finalisation of security manual. ‘The whole idea is to achieve self-reliance in defence production to meet the target as well as to uplift the local traders,’ sources said.
In a file sent to the PMO, the Defence Ministry has admitted that Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) as a whole has met the targets for the year 2011-12 but during 2012-13 and 2013-14 the actual achievement has been less than the target due to delay in receipt of raw material. ‘OFB is making all efforts to meet the target for the current year,’ the report reads.
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