Single point for India-US Defence trade

The Public Sector Units (PSUs) in the defence industry have been given a target to achieve 25% of their turnover through exports by 2022-23, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told Rajya Sabha on 26 June 2019.

The process for export clearance has been streamlined and made transparent and online.

A single point of contact between India and US has been identified on both sides to promote Defence trade.

Defence exports are also a significant part of the bilateral discussions and negotiations. Lines of credit are also being utilised for promoting Defence exports.

Further, the PSUs have also been a target to indigenize Rs.15,000 crores worth goods by 2022-23, the Minister said in a written reply.

Details:

Each defence PSU is in the process of developing to projects relating to Artificial Intelligence.

Ordnance Factories and Defence Public Sector Undertakings have played a huge role in making our country a defence production hub.

There are 41 Ordnance Factories and 9 DPSUs in our country contributing to more than Rs.58,000 crores approx. in defence production every year.

Government provides support to Defence Public Sector Undertakings and Ordnance Factories to expand their activities.

As a result of these efforts, the Defence Public Sector Undertakings have achieved the turnover of Rs.45,776 crores in 2018-19 which is the highest ever by the Defence PSUs.

Four Defence PSUs, viz. Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd. (HAL), Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDL) and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML) have recorded their highest turnover during the year 2018-19.

Several steps have also been taken to strengthen Ordnance Factory Board. These include:

Approval, in principle, has been granted for 15 proposals of Rs.861 crores for capital upgradation and modernization of Ordnance Factories during 2018-19.

OFB Procurement Manual has been revised during 2018-19 to streamline the procurement of store items in OFB. Export division under Member, OFB has been started to promote greater exports from OFB and enhanced delegation of powers given to Member (Exports) of OFB.

494 workers of Ordnance Factory, Avadi are being re-skilled for employment in new trades.

In pursuance of ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government, following measures have been taken to achieve substantive self-reliance in defence production: –

Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) has been revised in 2016 wherein specific provisions have been introduced for stimulating growth of the domestic defence industry.

A new category of procurement ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)}’ has been introduced in DPP-2016 to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment.

It has been accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment. Besides this, preference has been accorded to ‘Buy (Indian)’, ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ & ‘Make’ categories of capital acquisition over ‘Buy (Global)’ & ‘Buy & Make (Global)’ categories.

Government has notified the ‘Strategic Partnership (SP)’ Model which envisages establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with Indian entities through a transparent and competitive process, wherein they would tie up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.

The ‘Make’ Procedure has been simplified with provisions for funding of 90% of development cost by the Government to Indian industry and reserving projects not exceeding development cost of Rs.10 crore (Government funded) and Rs.3 crore (Industry funded) for MSMEs.
Separate procedure for ‘Make-II’ sub-category has been notified wherein a number of industry friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry/individual etc., have been introduced.

Till date, 36 proposals for development by industry have been given ‘in-principle’ approval under Make-II. List of Proposals are as given below.

Status of Projects which have been accorded AIP:

Air Force: Chaff & flares, Infrared Imaging Search & Track System (IRST), Advanced Self Protection Jammer (ASPJ) Pods and Radar Warning Receiver, Foldable Fiberglass Mat (FFM) for Rapid Runway Repair, Aerial Fuse for Bomb, 125 kg bomb (akin to MK-81 bomb) – Suo Moto, 70 mm Air to Ground Rockets, Long Range Air to Air BVR Missile, On Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) for fighter aircraft, Wing Drop tanks for Mirage 2000 aircraft and Inflatable Decoy.

Army: 125mm APFSDS for T-72 & T-90 Tank, Assault Track Way- Cl 24, MEAT (Maneuverable Expendable Aerial Target), Night Fighting Control System for AGS-30 – Suo Moto, 155 MM Terminally Guided Munition (TGM), 120mm Extended Range (ER) Guided Mortar Ammunition, Augmented reality (AR) based head Mounted display system, Fuel Cell Based Battery Charger, Rectifier Cum Accumulator for A Vehicles, 3rd Generation ATGM System – Suo Moto, Pre-fragmented programmable proximity fuzed ammunition, RPAS Simulator – Suo Moto, GPS/GIS based Minefield Recording System, Multi Role Precision Kill System– Suo Moto, Auxiliary Power Unit and BMP-2/2K Upgrade – Suo Moto.

Navy: Effectors for Anti-Torpedo Countermeasure System, Deep Sea Side Scan Sonar Towing Winch, Upper Air sounding system (UASS), Proximity, DA and Graze fuse for 76/62 SRGM with universal capability for 76-127mm Ammn, Chaff Payloads for Kavach Rockets LRCR (Long Range Chaff Rockets), MRCR (Medium Range Chaff Rockets), Digital Beam forming based Satellite TV, Three phase inverters, Expendable Underwater Target and High Speed Low Flying Target.

The Government has decided to establish two defence industrial corridors to serve as an engine of economic development and growth of defence industrial base in the country.

These are spanning across Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and spanning across Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh (UP). fiinews.com