India imported defence equipment of Rs 1.93 lakh crore in five years

NEW DELHI: India continues to import a major share of the arms and equipment from other countries and these amounts to a total of more than Rs 1.93 lakh crore, the Defence Ministry said on Friday.

As per the Ministry of Defence (MoD) during the last five financial years (2017-18 to 2021-2022) and current financial year 2022-23 (upto December, 2022), a total of 264 capital acquisition contracts have been signed for procurement of defence equipment. "Out of the 264 contracts, 88 contracts accounting for 36.26% of total contract value have been signed with vendors from foreign countries such as USA, Russia, France, Israel, Spain etc,” said MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt.

The major Defence equipment imported includes Helicopters, Aircraft Radars, Rockets, Guns, Assault Rifles, Missiles and Ammunitions.

Meanwhile, Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2020) with a focus on “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Make in India” introduced major policy initiatives for boosting indigenous defence capability and reduction of reliance on imports.

As per the DAP-2020, “The highest preference to Buy Indian (IDDM) category of acquisition and Buy Global is only permitted in exceptional situations with specific approval of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) / Defence Minister.

In addition, the government is taking initiatives to promote the indigenous production of defence equipment. On the one side, it is assisting the indigenous industry with funds under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) and is also pushing the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with Mission Mode (MM) projects.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed the Parliament that a total of 54 industries have been supported under the TDF scheme so far. A total No. of 04 technologies has been successfully developed under TDF Scheme. Further, “A total of 340 applications as Expression of Interest (EoI) have been received under TDF Scheme & 372 applications as Expression of Interest (EOI) have been received for Dare to Dream under TDF Scheme so far.”

The Government has worked out the Mission Mode (MM) projects of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Ajay Bhatt said, “As of date DRDO is working on 55 MM Projects for a total sanctioned cost of Rs. 73942.82 Crore”. The projects are in the area of Decoys, Nuclear Defence Technologies, Air Independent Propulsion (AIP), Propulsion Systems, Torpedo, Fighter Aircraft, Cruise Missile, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, AEW&C Aircraft Systems, Gas Turbine Engine, and Warhead among many others.

Details of capital expenditure incurred on foreign procurement for Defence Equipment by the Defence Services for the last five years are as under: -

Financial Year   Foreign Procurement (Rs. in crore)

    2017-18                    30,677.29

    2018-19                    38,115.60

    2019-20                    40,330.02

    2020-21                    43,916.37

    2021-22                    40,839.53

TOTAL                         193,878.81