In its order, the defence ministry stated that“these items will only be procured from the Indian industry after the timelines of indigenisation as indicated in the list available on the MoD’s Srijan portal (https://srijandefence.gov.in).”
New Delhi: In efforts to boost Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in defence production and reduce dependency on imports, the defence ministry has unveiled fifth positive indigenisation list (PIL), comprising 346 defence items.
In its order, the defence ministry stated that“these items will only be procured from the Indian industry after the timelines of indigenisation as indicated in the list available on the MoD’s Srijan portal (https://srijandefence.gov.in).”
What will be the impact of PIL?
With unveiling of the fifth list of positive indigenisation, the domestic industry would have assurances of procurement of developed products by the armed forces.
It will give an impetus to domestic defence industry and success of the government’s ambitious Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign in the defence sector.
It will also reduce dependency on global markets. On many occasions, the top military leadership have stated that “if you want to win the future wars you have to fight with indigenous weapons.”
In 2020, the ministry had launched the Srijan portal, which provides a forum for DPSUs and service headquarters (SHQs) to offer defence items for indigenisation to private industries.
They include micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups.
While releasing the first positive indigenisation list in August 2020, defence minister Rajnath Singh said: “Our aim is to apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the armed forces, so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation.”
The items which have to be. indigenised, include strategically-important line replacement units (LRUs)/systems/ sub-systems/assemblies/sub-assemblies/spares and components and raw materials, with import substitution value worth Rs 1,048 crore.
For Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), prior to releasing the fifth list a total of 4,666 items were notified by the ministry.
Of this, 2,972 items have already been indigenised with import substitution value worth Rs 3,400 crore.
Till date, over 36,000 defence items have been offered to the domestic industry for indigenisation by the DPSUs and SHQs.
Over 12,300 items of them have already been indigenised in the last three years.
As a result, the DPSUs have placed orders on domestic vendors to the tune of Rs 7,572 crore.
The DPSUs are Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), India Optel Ltd (IOL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL).
India: Largest importers of arms globally
As per the estimates, the Indian armed forces will be procuring defence items worth around USD 130 billion in capital procurement over the next 5-6 years.
For next 5 years, Rajnath Singh has set a goal of a turnover of USD 25 billion (Rs 1.75 lakh crore) in defence production.
Rajnath Singh had said that the government will work assiduously to increase the exports of military hardware to Rs 50,000 crore by 2028-29 from current Rs 21,083 crore.