Indian Ministry of Defence, The Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh has called for increased interaction between defence enterprises and private industry for the success of the offset policy, as envisaged in the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP), 2006.
Presiding over a seminar on the Mid-Term Review of the Offset Policy of the Ministry of Defence here yesterday, he said we can ill-afford to ignore the policy as it is beneficial to the country as well as industry. Urging MoD officials to be more frank and open in their dealings with the private industry, he highlighted the perils of foreign dependence, especially on technology, and urged all the stakeholders to ensure that India finds its rightful place as an exporter of arms in the near future. He assured the industry to give a good push to the offset policy and sought their cooperation.
The seminar, organized by the Department of Defence Production, was attended among others by the Secretary (Defence Production) Shri KP Singh, Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister Shri M. Natrajan, heads of Defence PSUs and representatives of top industry and business chambers.
Participating in the seminar, some speakers welcomed the idea of offset banking and encouragement to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). They also opined that the strong IT base of the nation must get a good push for software outsourcing.
Representatives of CII and FICCI, while complimenting the government for encouraging SMEs, suggested that a review of the offset policy might be attempted after about two years from now.
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