NEW DELHI: In order to give a push to the Make in India initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Central government is likely to announce a roadmap to build a robust defence production industry.
Official sources said this will make India one of the top five manufacturers of military equipment and platforms in the next 10 year and that final touch is being given to the policy before it is being placed before the Union Cabinet for approval.
According to the draft of the Defence Production Policy (DPP-2018) focus will be to invest adequate resources to develop critical technology for manufacturing state-of-the-art military platforms including fighter jets, attack helicopters and weaponry indigenously.
Through this policy, the government is looking at achieving a turnover of Rs 1,70,000 crore in military goods and services by 2025.
According to official figure, India inked 187 contracts worth Rs 2.40 lakh crore with foreign and domestic firms for various military equipment and weapons in the last four years. However, majority of the projects are yet to take off due to procedural delays.
Officials hope that the DPP is also likely to simplify the procurement process by cutting several layers of approval which often cause delays. The 12 military platforms and weapons system identified by the government in India to achieve the aim of "self-reliance" include fighter aircraft, medium lift and utility helicopters, warships, land combat vehicles, missile systems, gun systems, small arms, ammunition and explosives, surveillance systems, electronic warfare (EW) systems and night fighting enablers, among others. The draft policy says the licensing process for defence industries will be liberalised and the list of items requiring licences will be reviewed and pruned.