Private Sector to Get Level Playing Field In Defence

Indian Ministry of Defence, Government will ensure a level playing field for private sector in defence manufacturing, the Minister of State for Defence, Shri MM Pallam Raju told a seminar in New Delhi today. Encouraging private sector to take advantage of the Defence Offset Policy, he said foreign vendors in big ticket defence deals were free to choose an Indian partner. 
 
In the union budget for the year ending March 2008, nearly 42,000 crores (over $10 billion) would be spent on buying weapons, systems and equipment. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates India will spend about $45 billion in arms purchases, making it amongst the most attractive defence markets in the world. Benefits to the tune of 10,000 crore rupees are expected to accrue to the Indian industry as a result of the new offset policy, as spelled out in the Defence Procurement Procedure, 2006. 
 
Shri Pallam Raju said the aim was to build such indigenous capabilities in defence industry that would be export oriented over a period of time. Interacting with entrepreneurs, Shri PK Rastogi, Additional Secretary (Department of Defence Production), Defence Ministry, admitted exports by just a couple of defence PSUs were still a small fraction of the country’s huge defence budget of 96,000 crore rupees. 
 
The minister earlier released the book, “Indian Defence Procurement Opportunities – A Guide”, written by Major General Bhupinder Verma. Over a hundred entrepreneurs attended the day-long seminar on “The Defence Offset Policy: Opportunities for Indian IT and electronics industry”, orgainsed jointly by the Defence Offset Facilitation Agency (DOFA) and CII. 
 
The DOFA was set up by the Defence Ministry in September last year to act as bridge between Indian defence industry and potential vendors, both foreign and Indian. It also helps private industry obtain industrial license for manufacture of defence products from the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP). There is enormous potential as only 37 such licenses have been granted, Shri Rastogi pointed out.