NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry has liberalised the Arms Rules, 2016 to boost “Make in India” manufacturing policy of the Centre with a view to promote export and employment generation in the arms and ammunition manufacturing domain.
Under the liberalised Rules, the licence granted for manufacturing shall now be valid for the life-time of the licensee company. The requirement of renewal of the license after every five years has been done away with.
Likewise, the condition under the previously applicable Rules that the small arms and light weapons produced by manufacturer shall be sold to the Central Government or the State Governments with the prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs has also been scrapped.
Enhancement of production capacity up to 15 per cent of the quantity approved under the licence will not require any further approval by the Government. The manufacturer will be required to give only prior intimation to the licensing authority in this coonection.
According to the Gazette notification, the licence fee has been reduced significantly under the new rules. Earlier the licence fee was Rs 500 per firearm which added up to very large sums and was a deterrent to seeking manufacturing licenses and has now been dropped. The licence fee will now range from one-time payment of Rs 5,000 to the maximum of Rs. 50,000. Also, the fee for manufacturing licence shall be payable at the time of grant of license rather than at the time of application.
Single manufacturing licence will be allowed for a multi-unit production facility within the same State or in different States within the country.
A notification for the Arms (Amendment) Rules, 2017 issued by the Ministry and notified through the Gazette on October 27 also said, “The small arms and light weapons produced by the manufacturers may be allowed for export subject to the approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Commerce, on a case to case basis.”
“The liberalised rules will apply to licences granted by MHA for small arms & ammunition and licences granted by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under powers delegated to them, for tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, defence aircrafts, space crafts, warships of all kinds, arms and ammunition and allied items of defence equipment other than small arms,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry further said, “The liberalisation of the Arms Rules will encourage investment in the manufacturing of arms and ammunition and weapon systems as part of the “Make in India” programme. The liberalised rules are expected to encourage the manufacturing activity and facilitate availability of world class weapons to meet the requirement of Armed Forces and Police Forces in sync with country’s defence indigenization programme.”