Budgetary provisions like the allocation of 68 per cent funds for modernisation to domestic industry along with opening up of government funding for defence research in the private sector will help the country to become self-reliant in providing weapon systems to the armed forces as well as lead to the creation of new job opportunities in this sector, say industry leaders in the sector.

Commenting on the budgetary provisions for the defence sector, Adani Defence and Aerospace President Ashish Rajvanshi said the Finance Minister has earmarked 68 per cent allocation of the capital procurement budget in defence for domestic industry, which is an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year of 58 per cent.

“This is a welcome step as it will attract investments. The allocation of 25 per cent of the R&D budget to incentivize industry-led research, by developing military platforms and collaborative efforts in public-private partnership mode with DRDO and other research bodies,” Rajvanshi stated adding that this will reduce dependency on the import and lead to job creation.

Adani group has entered the defence sector a few years ago and are engaged in various projects for the defence forces.

The small and medium enterprises are also happy with the increased allocation for the domestic defence industry and feel that this will help them

expand as more opportunities could be there for them to grab.
“This is a big step in giving opportunities to the domestic industry and will help companies like ours to help India achieve a very high level of self-reliance in this sector,” Nagpur-based JSR Dynamics Chairman Air Marshal SB Deo (Retd) told ANI.

Former Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Chairman RK Tyagi said the atmosphere for Make in India has received a further boost as the industry can see that steps are being taken to help them rise.

A large number of projects which were purely imports and did not involve significant made in India components are also being scrapped by the government and they would now be produced in India.

The cancellation of these projects will lead to more Indian companies getting the contracts to fulfil the requirements of the forces, defence officials said.

Defence expert and former defence spokesperson Captain DK Sharma said this has been the biggest push to the clarion call of Atmanirbhatra wherein 68 per cent of the capital expenditure has been earmarked for domestic industry thereby ensuring the ploughing back of funds in the economy of the country.

“This budget is certainly going to cater to Navy’s committed liabilities as also facilitate pushing for new orders with Indian shipbuilders both public and private,” he said.