Enhancing Defence Manufacturing Capability In India

What ails the process of enhancing Defence Manufacturing capability in India? That is a serious question that needs to be answered since the government is keen to ensure that the ‘Make in India’ programme is a success.

India has the dubious reputation of being the largest importer of arms in the world today. That from a country that has outstanding manufacturing skills across the board (minus Defence). This is in spite of the fact that over the last decade-and-a-half, the Government has openly stated that the intent is to move from a 70 percent import requirement to 30 percent or less.

Myriad reasons have been given. Among them are:

Environment difficult for doing business.

Lack of Infrastructure.

Lack of R&D facilities in the defence sector in respect of private industry.

Indecisiveness in both Government and private industry.

Lack of clarity of intent from both sides. 

The Defence Procurement Procedures have been continuously evolving since 2002 with a new document issued on a now regular basis. However, there has been little or no progress in actual manufacturing in the defence sector.

In actuality, there are issues with all stakeholders, be it the government, the bureaucracy, the user, the Defence Public Sector Units and private industry. All in some form or the other have contributed to the present situation. However, rather than play the blame game, it would be prudent to examine ways and means of rectifying the situation.

The aim of any private entity, while doing business, is to generate some sort of profit for themselves. It would be incorrect for either the political dispensation or the user to assume that anything would be done purely from a nationalistic point of view without generation of profit in some form or the other. It need not necessarily be in terms of cash but in terms of opportunity/growth/mutual benefit. At no stage will private industry take on a project that will result in only losses. This aspect must be kept in mind by the government and the user while addressing the issue.