Major Step Towards Promoting Indigenous Defense Industry

Major step towards promoting indigenous defense industry, ban on import of 108 defense related equipment.

To promote the domestic defense industry under the Self-Reliant India Campaign, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday banned the import of 108 military weapons and equipment.

These items include systems and accessories such as next-generation corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars.

It is noteworthy that the government had released the first negative list last year to stop the import of 101 defense related items.

Officials said that the ban on import of 108 items included in the second list would be progressively effective in the period from December 2021 to December 2025.

The list has been prepared by the Ministry of Defense after several rounds of consultations with state-owned and private defense manufacturing industry bodies.

Towed artillery guns, short-range surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles, offshore patrol ships, electronic warfare systems, next-generation missile ships, floating post and other items in the first negative list of items for defense imports Anti-submarine rocket launchers included.

Defense Ministry officials said that to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s self-reliant India effort and promote indigenization in the defense sector.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh proposed to notify the second positive indigenization list of 108 items of the Department of Military Affairs.

Major step towards promoting indigenous defense industry: Permission has been granted.

The ministry said that all 108 items will now be procured from indigenous sources as per the provisions of Defense Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

It is noteworthy that the government has taken several measures over the years to boost the domestic defense industry.

The defense ministry’s new defense procurement policy is expected to generate a turnover of Rs 1.75 lakh crore ($ 25 billion) in defense manufacturing by 2025.

India is one of the most attractive markets for the global defense giants. India has been one of the top importers of military hardware in the last eight to ten years.

According to estimates, it is estimated that about 130 billion dollars will be spent on capital purchases for the Indian forces in the next five years.