Lok Sabha Question No. 3223 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-05
Subject: Tejas Fighter Aircraft
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Queen Oja, Shankar Lalwani, Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3223

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05 th  August, 2022

## TEJAS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

3223. SHRIMATI QUEEN OJA: SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI: DR. BHARATIBEN DHIRUBHAI SHIYAL:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether Malaysia has shown interest in purchasing Tejas fighter aircraft from India;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the other countries from which such proposals have been received; and
- (c) the steps being taken by the Government to become self-reliant in the matter of defence equipment?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

- (a):  Yes, Sir. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a Defence PSU under the Ministry of Defence responded to a Request for Information (RFI) received from Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), Malaysia in February, 2019 for LCA class aircraft.
- (b):    Subsequently,  Hindustan Aeronautics Limited responded in October, 2021 to Request For Proposal (RFP) issued against tender released by Royal Malaysian Air Force, Malaysia for  18  nos  of  Fighter  Lead  In  Trainer  -  Light  Combat  Aircraft  (FLIT  -  LCA)  and  HAL offered LCA Tejas twin seater variant. Other countries which have evinced interest in LCA aircraft are: Argentina, Australia, Egypt, USA, Indonesia, and Philippines.
- (c):  The Government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country, thereby expanding their production. These initiatives, inter-alia, include: -
- (i) According  priority  to  procurement  of  capital  items  from  domestic  sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020.
- (ii) The announcement of 18 major defence platforms for industry led design & development in March, 2022.

(iii) Notification  of  three  'Positive  Indigenization  Lists'  of  total  310  items  of Services and two 'Positive Indigenization Lists' of total 2958 items  of the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timelines indicated against them. (iv) Simplification of Industrial licensing process with longer validity period. (v) Liberalization  of  Foreign  Direct  Investment  (FDI)  policy  allowing  74%  FDI under automatic route. (vi) Simplification of Make Procedure. (vii) Launch  of  Innovations  for  Defence  Excellence  (iDEX)  scheme  involving startups & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). (viii) Implementation  of  Public  Procurement  (Preference  to  Make  in  India)  Order 2017. (ix) Launch of an indigenization portal namely SRIJAN to facilitate indigenisation by Indian Industry including MSMEs. (x) Reforms in Offset policy with thrust on attracting investment and Transfer of Technology for Defence manufacturing by assigning higher multipliers. (xi) Establishment of two Defence Industrial Corridors, one each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Opening  up  of  Defence  Research  &  Development  (R  &  D)  for  industry, startups and academia with 25 percent of defence R&D budget earmarked to promote

(xii) development of defence technology in the country; and

(xiii) Progressive increase in allocation of Defence Budget of military modernization for procurement from domestic sources, etc.

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