Minister tells defence companies to develop latest technologies
The Government will provide Rs.6,270 crore for capital expenditure in 2026-27 to the seven defence companies, carved out of erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) a year ago.
To date, the Government has provided Rs.2,953 crore equity to the seven companies in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said after review the one-year-old operations at the companies.
An additional Rs.3,750 crore has been released to these companies in form of Emergency Authorisation Fund.
Rajnath Singh pointed out that the functional and financial autonomy provided to these new corporate entities, coupled with handholding by the Government, has started to reflect in their performance.
“Within a short span of six months from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, these new companies have achieved the turnover of more than Rs.8,400 crore, which is significant considering the Value of Issue of erstwhile OFB during the previous financial years,” he said.
For the Financial year 2022-23 also, the seven new Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) have projected cumulative sales target of approx. Rs.17,000 crore, which is significantly higher as compared to previous achievements of erstwhile OFB.
Against the production achievement of approx. Rs.5,028 crore for the period 1 April 2021 to 30 Sept 2021, these DPSUs have reported production achievement of more than Rs.6,500 crore in first six months of financial year 2022-23.
“Post corporatisation, the new entities have shown marked improvement in productivity and quality in the changed corporate set up,” he said following the review on 30 Sept 2022.
In the Financial Year 2021-22, six companies out of the seven have indicated profits based on the provisional financial statements.
To further improve the functioning of these DPSUs, Rajnath Singh listed out some of the key areas which need to be focussed on.
Terming the present era as technology-driven, he exhorted the companies to develop or get acquainted with latest technologies, which are vital for the defence industry to make its mark at national and international levels.
He urged them to lay special emphasis on modernisation through domestic research and development as it is the strongest and the safest way forward.
The Minister stressed on the need to increase India’s market share across the globe, describing it as the responsibility of the companies to contribute in the efforts towards achieving the objective.
He called upon the companies to devise and implement strategies with an aggressive and progressive attitude to make their presence felt in the current time of competitive bidding.
During the last one year, the new companies have obtained domestic orders of more than Rs.7,200 crore value.
Some of the significant achievements of the new companies are:
Munitions India Limited (MIL) has obtained export orders worth more than Rs.1,500 crore for various types of ammunition in last one year.
Gliders India Limited (GIL) has also obtained orders for export of Parachutes.
Yantra India Limited (YIL) has made significant progress in product and customer diversification. This has helped them to get orders worth more than Rs.300 Crores from non-defence market like Indian Railways.
Troop Comforts Limited (TCL) has developed items like Bullet Proof Jacket, Ballistic Helmets, ECWCS etc to enter a niche market and sustain its business in long run.
Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL) has developed a new variant of Mine Protected Vehicle designed for CRPF, which may be useful for other Armed Forces also.
Advanced Weapons & Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) has received an order for supply of JVPC carbines to Delhi Police.
Munitions India Limited (MIL) has been able to successfully proof fire new variants of Pinaka Rocket i.e., Pinaka Mk-I (Extended Range) and DPICM.
MIL has also successfully developed 40 mm UBGL ammunition, 500 Kg General Purpose Bomb and 76/62 SRGM HEDA Ammunition.
India Optel Limited (IOL) has developed Driver Night Sights for Tanks which is a first in terms of technology of Fusion Imaging. fiinews.com
