NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has put in place a policy that raised the participation of Indian firms in manufacturing ‘technical textile’ for the armed forces. Technical textile is used for specialised products like bullet-proof jackets, bullet-proof patka and high altitude clothing.
According to a senior Army officer, the policy was given the nod at a meeting in Mumbai under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and was attended by the Army. Details are being worked out for other areas as well.
The products under the current policy implementations include high altitude inner clothing, three-layered gloves, multi-purpose boots, snow boots, crampons and sleeping bags and other such products made of technical textile.
“The tenders related to the products up to the value of Rs 50 lakh will go to an Indian company giving the lowest bid,” the officer said. Foreign manufacturers will be able to participate in cases where the value of tenders is worth more than Rs 50 lakh.
But, in such cases also, even if a foreign company is found to be the lowest bidder, the endeavour will be to procure 50 per cent of the product by value from an Indian manufacturer.
But, the norm, in this case, will be that the indigenous company will have to supply the products at the same rate of the winning bidder. If the condition arises where the product is to be procured from only one participant, then the Indian firm gets preference. This policy is to encourage ‘Make in India’ with a view to enhancing income and employment.