SHELVING DEFENCE IMPORTS

Identifying the challenges that an Indian defence industrial complex faces, ANDREW FERNADES suggests how to meet them.

- ANDREW FERNADES

Self-reliance in defence needs no elaboration. For years, it has been stated keeping national security and sovereignty of the nation in mind. Realising this would not be possible by using only existing government resources. Private sector participation was encouraged through the defence procurement process, first issued in 2002, and through successive editions.

Results over time were not very encouraging, and defence imports remained at very high levels. In September 2014, ‘Make in India’ was launched to encourage companies, both Indian and foreign, to develop, manufacture and assemble products in India including the defence sector.

Atmanirbhar Bharat, a clarion call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeks to put India on a path of self-reliance and self-sufficiency in all sectors, especially defence, making India a bigger and more important part of the global economy by pursuing policies that are efficient, competitive, and resilient, as well as being selfsustaining and self-generating.

The path trod to date

With the intent towards self-reliance always articulated, and actions, though limited in scope taken over time, it has only translated into more direct action to achieve self-sufficiency in the recent past especially since 2014, as elucidated below.

Make in India: 2014

The government has taken various concrete actions with progressive changes in policy to encourage it. These include:

Changes in defence procurement policy to include categories like Indian IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured). An Indian company opting for IDDM, is given preference over all other categories.