Lok Sabha Question No. 4861 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-31
Subject: Self-reliance in Defence Manufacturing
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Nalin Kumar Kateel, Parvesh Sahib Singh, D.K. Suresh, S. Jagathrakshakan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

## DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4861

TO BE ANSWERED ON 31 st  March, 2023

## SELF-RELIANCE IN DEFENCE MANUFACTURING

4861. SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL: SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH VERMA: SHRI D.K. SURESH: SHRI S. JAGATHRAKSHAKAN:

- Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state: (a)    whether  the  Government  has  taken  policy  initiatives  to  encourage  indigenous  design, development and manufacture of defence equipment for promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing in the country, if so, the details thereof; (b)  whether the Government has set any target to generate employment opportunities with the  new  initiatives,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  total  number  of  employment generated by these new initiatives in the defence sector; (c)    whether  the  Government  has  signed  an  Inter-Governmental  Agreement  to  help  in  the innovation and development of indigenous technology, if so, the details thereof; (d)  whether the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative has helped the country transform from being
- an importer of weapons and defence related equipment to an exporter; and
- (e)  if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

(a) & (b) : Several policy initiatives and reforms have been taken by Government in the past few  years to  encourage  indigenous  design,  development  and  manufacture  of  defence equipment, thereby promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing in the country. These initiatives,  inter-alia,  include  according  priority  to  procurement  of  capital  items  from domestic  sources  under  Defence  Acquisition  Procedure  (DAP)-2020; Notification  of four 'Positive Indigenization Lists' of total 411 items of Services and three 'Positive Indigenization Lists' of total 3738 items  of Defence Public Sector Undertakings(DPSUs), for which there would be an embargo  on  the  import  beyond  the  timelines  indicated   against them;   Simplification  of

Industrial  licensing  process  with  longer  validity  period;  Liberalization  of  Foreign  Direct Investment(FDI)  policy  allowing  74%  FDI  under  automatic  route;  Simplification  of  Make Procedure;  Launch  of  Mission  DefSpace;  Launch  of  Innovations  for  Defence  Excellence (iDEX)  scheme  involving  startups  &  Micro,  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises  (MSMEs); Implementation of  Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017; Launch of an  indigenization  portal  namely  SRIJAN  to  facilitate  indigenisation  by  Indian  Industry including  MSMEs;  Reforms  in  Offset  policy  with  thrust  on  attracting  investment  and Transfer  of  Technology  for  Defence  manufacturing  by  assigning  higher  multipliers;  and 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;  Progressive  increase  in  allocation  of Defence  Budget  of  military  modernization  for  procurement  from  domestic  sources,  etc. These policy initiatives have given a push to the growth of Industries including MSMEs in defence  sector  which  have  created  tremendous  employment  opportunities.    However,  no employment data is maintained by Ministry of Defence.

(c):  The information cannot be shared being strategic and sensitive in nature.

(d)  &  (e):    The  Atmanirbhar  Bharat  initiatives  has  helped  the  country  by  encouraging indigenous  design,  development  and  manufacture  of  defence  equipment  in  the  country, thereby reducing dependency  on imports in long run.  The expenditure on defence procurement from foreign sources has reduced from 46% of overall expenditure in 2018-19 to 36.7% in December, 2022.  Moreover, the indian defence export has risen by more than 8 times since 2016-17.  In 2016-17, the defence exports were worth Rs. 1,522 crore which has gone up to Rs. 13,800 crore till date.

*****