NEW DELHI: In the ongoing bid towards indigenisation, the government on Wednesday notified a fresh list imposing a ban on imports of 351 sub-systems and components for the armed forces under a staggered timeline, commencing from December next year.
As part of the ongoing pursuit of self-reliance in defence equipment manufacturing, the listed items will be indigenised in the next three years. “This Aatmanirbhar initiative will save foreign exchange approximately equivalent to Rs 3,000 crore every year,” a Defence Ministry statement said.
The items banned from import include indigenous rocket launchers, diffusers, detectors for thermal imaging cameras, laser radiator Shakti electronic warfare system, double base propellant, laser warning sensors, Gimbal for tethered UAV among others.
The list released by the ministry of defence (MoD) also included 2500 items that have already been indigenised.
There have been two lists issued by the MoD prior to this which mentioned a total of 209 defence items to be procured from domestic sources.
While the first list comprising 101 defence items was notified in August last year, the ‘Second Positive Indigenisation List’ was released in May this year, which comprised complex systems, sensors, simulators, weapons and ammunition like choppers, next generation corvettes, Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) systems, tank engines, medium power radar for mountains, MRSAM weapon systems among others.
The second list has been decided to be implemented progressively from December 2021 to December 2025.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had recently said India's defence and aerospace manufacturing market is worth Rs 85,000 crore of which the present contribution of the private sector is around Rs 18,000 crore. In 2022, the country’s defence and aerospace manufacturing market will increase to Rs 1 lakh crore and this could further rise to Rs 5 lakh crore by 2047, he had added.
The final version of the ‘Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020’ is also due to be released soon.
Highlighting the need for strategic independence, late Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat had said at a DRDO event in 2020 that the country will win future wars with indigenously developed weapons.
Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane had also been pushing for indigenisation of weapon platforms and ammunition manufacturing.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while speaking at the FICCI annual meeting earlier this month, had underlined that India cannot depend on other countries for defence technologies due to its stature, its geographical location as well as the security challenges it faces.