UPDIC and TNDIC have secured Rs.19,867cr in potential investments
The Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) and Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor (TNDIC) have secured investment commitments of Rs.8,764 crore and Rs.11,103 crore, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply Rajya Sabha on 21 March 2022.
UPDIC has signed 63 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and has secured current actual investment in UPDIC is Rs.1,552 crore.
TNDIC has made MoUs and potential investment pacts with 39 industries and secured actual investment of Rs.2,217 crore.
The respective State Governments provide and support development of infrastructure facilities like connecting Roads, Electricity, Water and Sewage systems among others for the development of these two corridors.
Each of corridors has an investment target of Rs.10,000 crore.
The TNDIC has proposals such as setting up of Testing and Certification infrastructure, DRDO labs, Commercial Production units for AEWCS, Transfer of Defence land, and formation of Joint Venture (JV) with HAL, he said.
Defence Industry sector, which was hitherto reserved for the public sector, was opened up to 100% for Indian private sector participation in May, 2001.
So far, the Government has issued a total of 568 Defence Industrial Licenses to 351 companies. Out of these, a total of 113 companies covering 170 Defence Industrial Licenses have conveyed commencement of production.
As per the condition stipulated in the License, the Defence Industry is required to provide the standards and testing procedures for equipment to be produced to the Government nominated Quality Assurance Agency. The nominated Quality Assurance Agency inspects the finished products and conducts surveillance and audit of the quality assurance procedures, Bhatt said.
Also, seven new Defence Public Sector Undertakings have been set up with effect from 1 October 2021, by converting 41 production units of erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), for manufacturing of modern weapons and armament indigenously, during the last five years, Bhatt said.
Further, the Defence Industry Sector, which was hitherto reserved for the public sector, was opened up to 100% for Indian private sector participation in May 2001.
In the last five years, the Government has issued a total of 214 Defence Industrial Licenses to the private sector as well, out of them 43 industries have reported commencement of production.
The Government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years under ‘Make in India’ program and brought in reforms to enhance the capacity of manufacturing undertakings and private industries functioning in the country by encouraging indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment.
Following steps have been taken by the Government:
Announcement of 18 major platforms for industry led design and development.
Notification of two ‘Positive Indigenisation Lists’ of total 209 items of Services and one ‘Positive Indigenisation List’ of total 2851 items of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timelines indicated against them.
Launch of an indigenization portal namely SRIJAN to facilitate indigenisation by Indian Industry including MSMEs.
Launch of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme involving start-ups & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Simplification of Industrial licensing process with longer validity period.
To provide autonomy and enhance efficiency and unleash new growth potential in the Ordnance Factories, the Government has corporatized OFB and converted it into seven new Defence Public Sector Undertakings.
Simplification of Make Procedure.
Implementation of Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017.
The capital budget for procurement from domestic industries is continuously increasing. In the last few years, it has gone up from 58% of total capital budget to 68% for the year 2022-23 amounting to Rs.84,597.89 crore, he said.
In addition to it, the Indian Government has also funded some DPSUs & Ordnance Factories in last five years to enhance their manufacturing capacity which is as follows:
A total of Rs.90.08 crore has been invested under Repair & Refurbishment of Machinery and Infrastructure (RRMI) Scheme in Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL).
Rs.880 crore has been provided to Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) under Infrastructure Augmentation Plan as Government funding.
A total expenditure of Rs.5,263.92 crore has been incurred by erstwhile OFB under modernisation [Renewal & Replacement (RR), New Capital (NC) P&M, Capital Civil Works].
An amount of Rs.2,765.95 crore has also been released to the 7 new companies during the current financial year for capital works and equity.
There has been a decline in percentage of capital expenditure on procurement of Defence equipment from foreign vendors from 48% in 2018-19 to 36% in 2020-21.
Meanwhile, powers have been delegated to DRDO and CMDs of DPSUs for exploring export opportunities and participation in global tenders, said Bhatt.
New simplified End User Certificate Format for Parts & Components has been provided in SOP.
Validity of Export Authorization for export of parts & components has been increased from two years to date of completion of order/component whichever is later.
A new provision for re-exporting parts and components for undertaking repair or rework to provide replacement for a component under warranty obligation is inserted in the SOP as a sub-classification of repeat orders. fiinews.com
