Sitharaman stresses on level playing field

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has assured that the government is fully committed to removing all the stumbling blocks and facilitating private participation in defence manufacturing with the objective of bringing high value foreign investment.

Sitharaman has stressed on building indigenous capabilities, fostering absorption and assimilation of technologies, and ensuring self-reliance in meeting the country’s defence needs by providing a level playing field.

The minister addressed the industry’s concerns during a roundtable on ‘Energizing Make in India’ initiative in the defence sector.

The government has taken a series of significant policy initiatives, including promulgation of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 which gives highest priority to indigenous design and manufacture of defence equipment, introduction of Strategic Partnership model and liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms.

A wide range of issues relating to private participation in defence manufacturing were raised during the roundtable held 28 October 2017.

These included matters relating to licensing, taxes and duties, speeding up of procurement processes, streamlining of the offsets regime and creation of a tiered defence industrial ecosystem with full integration and skilling of manpower in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector.

The roundtable was held together with Confederation of Indian Industry. fii-news.com