Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal for bringing in industry-friendly reforms in the Authority Holding Sealed Particulars (AHSP) to further promote ease of doing business.
The AHSP is the authority which is responsible for generating, maintaining, updating or declaring obsolete the entire history and technical information of defence products.
So far, the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) was the AHSP for the majority of defence items designed, developed and manufactured by various DPSUs and private industries.
Under the existing procedure, certain bottlenecks were experienced by the industry to bring timely improvements in their products and technologies in line with changing times. Therefore, the MoD has decided now to liberalise the AHSP procedures and make it industry-friendly.
The Indian defence companies, which have developed products, systems, subsystems, and components on their own indigenous capabilities (except critical stores), will now be allowed to own and account for their final designs and specification as AHSP.
In case of any change in the sealed particulars, a simplified mechanism representing all the concerned stakeholders, including the industry, will take a decision. The DGQA will notify the detailed procedure in this regard within two months.
The DGQA has also been asked to examine all AHSPs with them and rationalise the entire list within two months. They have been, further, advised to transfer the AHSP to the industry at the earliest. It will be another significant step for the government to further encourage ease of doing business.