Lok Sabha Question No. 2189 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-29
Subject: Self-sufficiency in Defence Manufacturing
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Malook Nagar, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Kuruva Gorantla Madhav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2189

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 th  July, 2022

## SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN DEFENCE MANUFACTURING

2189. SHRI MALOOK NAGAR: SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY: SHRI KURUVA GORANTLA MADHAV:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether most of India's advanced weapons are imported if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to make India self-reliant in respect of the state-of-theart weapons if so, the details of the policy formulated in this regard;
- (c) the details of the major policies formulated to ensure self-reliance in defence manufacturing along with the manner in which such policies affect import of defence items;
- (d)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  involve  Micro,  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises (MSMEs)  in  manufacturing  of  defence  equipment  along  with  the  defence  manufacturing MSMEs established during the last three years and the current year; and
- (e) the other steps taken by the Government to upgrade and modernize defence technologies to meet the future requirements of the country?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

(a):  Capital procurement of defence equipment are undertaken from various domestic as well as  foreign  vendors,  based  on  threat  perception,  operational  challenges  and  technological changes so as to keep the Armed Forces in a state of readiness.

Defence  Procurement  Procedure  (DPP)  and  Defence  Acquisition  Procedure  (DAP 2020) with a focus on 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' and 'Make in India' introduced major policy initiatives  for  boosting  indigenous defence capability and reduction  of reliance on  imports. Further,  DAP-2020  provides  the  highest  preference  to  Buy  Indian  (IDDM)  category  of acquisition and Buy Global is only permitted in exceptional situations with specific approval of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) / RakshaMantri.

In light of the initiatives taken to boost indigenous manufacturing in defence, in the last three financial years (2019-20 to 2021-22) and current financial year 2022-23 (upto June, 2022), total 161 contracts have been signed for capital procurement of defence equipment, out

of which, 107 contracts accounting for 70% of total contracts value have been signed with Indigenous vendors.

(b) to (e):  Government is taking measures for modernization of the Armed Forces, through procurement of new equipment and upgrading of existing equipment so as to ensure that the Armed Forces are equipped to meet the entire spectrum of security challenges.

To achieve self-reliance in defence modernization and to provide impetus to design, development  and  manufacture  of  defence  equipment/platforms  in  India,  the  following initiatives/policies have been taken/made by the Government: -

-  Announcement of 18 major defence platforms for industry led Design & Development in March, 2022.
-  Notification of three 'Positive Indigenisation lists' of total 310 items of services and two Positive Indigenisation lists of total 2958 items of DPSUs for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timelines indicated against them.
-  Launch of innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme involving  startups& Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
-  Launch  of  an  indigenisation  portal  namely  SRIJAN  to  facilitate  indigenisation  by Indian industry including MSMEs.
-  Opening up of Defence Research & Development (R&D) for industry, startups and academia with 25% of defence R&D budget earmarked to promote development of defence technology in the country.
-  In  line  with  Government  of  India's  initiative  of  Atmanirbhar  Bharat,  Ministry  of Defencehas earmarked funds amounting to Rs. 84,598 Cr (68% of the total Capital Acquisition Budget) for the domestic capital procurement in 2022-23.
-  Indigenous  Content  (IC)-  The  IC  has  been  enhanced  in  all  procurement  categories along with simplification of IC verification methodology.
-  Simplification of Make procedure - Make procedure has been simplified and made more objective with an aim to exploit its potential to the full.

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