Defence Investor Cell has addressed 1,445 queries such as investment opportunities, says Bhatt
Specific consultations are done regularly with Foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (FOEMs) while webinars are conducted with Friendly Foreign Countries (FFCs) through Indian Missions abroad and Industry Associations with active participation from Indian Defence Industries.
Webinars have been conducted with 27 FFCs till date, Minister of State in Defence Ministry Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on 25 July 2022.
Defence Investor Cell has addressed 1,445 queries including those related to investment opportunities, procedures and regulatory requirements for investment in the sector, he told the House.
Further, the Minister informed that the expenditure on defence procurement from foreign sources has been reduced to 36% in 2021-22 from 46% in 2018-19.
The two Defence Corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh provide Plug & Play support to the industries including FOEMs, Bhatt said.
Under the Aerospace & Defence Policy notified by the two State Governments, customized incentive packages are provided to investors based on investment, employment and project location which may include GST-based refunds on sales, stamp duty concessions on land allotment, electricity tax exemption, capital subsidy and subsidized training for workers.
The Government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country, thereby expanding the production of indigenous defence equipment.
These initiatives are:
According priority to procurement of capital items from domestic sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020;
Announcement of 18 major defence platforms for industry led design & development in March 2022;
Notification of three ‘Positive Indigenisation Lists’ of total 310 items of Services and two ‘Positive Indigenisation Lists’ of total 2,958 items of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timelines indicated against them;
Simplification of industrial licensing process with longer validity period; Liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy allowing 74% FDI under automatic route;
Simplification of Make Procedure; Launch of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme involving start-ups & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs);
Implementation of Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017;
Launch of an indigenization portal namely SRIJAN to facilitate indigenization by Indian Industry including MSMEs;
Reforms in Offset policy with thrust on attracting investment and Transfer of Technology for Defence Manufacturing by assigning higher multipliers;
Opening up of Defence Research & Development (R&D) for industry, start-ups and academia with 25% of defence R&D budget earmarked to promote development of defence technology in the country;
Progressive increase in allocation of Defence Budget of military modernization for procurement from domestic sources, said Bhatt. fiinews.com
