The Indian Defence industry is poised to witness major policy changes, the Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, said here on Wednesday, pointing out that for the first ever defence production policy will be unveiled soon and major changes incorporated in the defence procurement policy.“From January next year, we hope to introduce the new Defence Production Policy as well as the Defence Procurement Policy. So now we are going to take some more drastic steps to achieve our goal of speedy indigenisation,” the Minister said.
Mr Antony said that the aim is to have a strong defence industrial base in the country, pointing out that at the moment 65-70 per cent of the equipments are imported. The Minister added that this was a trend which had to be reversed.
“We will continue to support the public sector undertakings, but at the same time PSUs alone will not be able to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces. So now we are formulating a new policy.
“Both public sector shipyards will have to compete with the Indian private shipyards to get projects for the Indian Navy.
“All the Indian Navy's procurements in future will be from ‘Buy Indian, Make Indian.
“Buy Indian and Make Indian' is going to be the major component of our procurement policy. That will help us to have a strong defence industrial base in India,” he added.
The Defence Minister said that there is plenty of space and opportunity for the public and the private sector to coexist and thrive.
Source:businessline
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