How Policy Paralysis Could Unmake The 'Make In India' Effort To Indigenise Defence Manufacturing!

Policy paralysis and bureaucratic lethargy could undo Modi's Make in India plan to indigenise weapons production.

- Sandeep Unnithan

On February 15, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) workhorse PSLV rocket thundered off a launch pad at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, for a record-making mission. The rocket disgorged 104 satellites into space, 101 of them for foreign customers. Just the day before, on February 14, global arms firms had converged on Bengaluru for the biennial four-day Aero India 2017 air show to display their fighter jets, helicopters and drones to the Indian armed forces, who are looking to buy military hardware worth over $100 billion over the next decade.

These two recent events, just a day apart and entirely unrelated, illustrate the gap between India’s capabilities. Entirely self-sufficient as a space power yet utterly dependent on imported arms for its military power. India has the world’s third largest military, and with a Rs 2.74 lakh crore defence budget this year, it is also the world’s sixth largest spender on defence. However, nearly 60 per cent of its military hardware is imported. India has often held the title of the ‘world’s largest arms importer’, and between 2012 and 2016, the country accounted for 13 per cent of all global arms exports. Figures tabled by the government in the Lok Sabha put the value of arms imports at Rs 82,496 crore between 2013 and 2016. Even as the government pitches for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council, it cannot but be aware of a cruel irony—it is effectively a net importer of security from four of the five permanent members.