Indian Defence Industry has got a great opportunity in this move and “by using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed and developed by DRDO to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces,” they can manufacture these items, said the Defence Minister.
The Ministry of Defence has prepared the list after consultations with all stakeholders, including the Armed Forces, public and private industry, added the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. (File Photo: IANS)
With an aim to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan,’ Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday that the government has declared an embargo on the import of 101 defence items “beyond the timeline indicated against them.” Now they will be produced locally.
The list of 101 items will further be put on a ‘negative list’, said Singh and added that “contracts worth almost Rs 4 lakh crore will be placed upon the domestic industry within the next 6 to 7 years.”
Indian Defence Industry has got a great opportunity in this move and “by using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed and developed by DRDO to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces,” they can manufacture these items, said the Defence Minister.
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This decision will offer a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to manufacture the items in the negative list by using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed & developed by DRDO to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 9, 2020
High technology weapon systems like “artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircrafts, light combat helicopters, radars and many other items”, have been included in the list, said the Centre in a statement.
“The list also includes, wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) with indicative import embargo date of December 2021, of which the Army is expected to contract almost 200 at an approximate cost of over Rs 5,000 crore,” said Singh.
The list also includes, wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) with indicative import embargo date of December 2021, of which the Army is expected to contract almost 200 at an approximate cost of over Rs 5,000 crore. #AtmanirbharBharat
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 9, 2020
The Ministry of Defence has prepared the list after consultations with all stakeholders, including the Armed Forces, public and private industry, added the Defence Minister.
“Of these, items worth almost Rs 1,30,000 crore each are anticipated for the Army and the Air Force while items worth almost Rs 1,40,000 crore are anticipated by the Navy over the same period,” tweeted Singh.
It has been on Centre’s agenda for many years and a series of reform measures are been taken to promote the domestic defence industry and cut India’s reliance on imported weapons and military platforms.
India is one of the most lucrative markets for global defence giants as it figured among top three importers of military hardware in the world for the last many years.
In fact, now the country is moving towards exporting some of the locally designed and manufactured defence products to other countries as well.
“The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the Armed Forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation,” said Singh.
The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the Armed Forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 9, 2020
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