PM urges private sector to design, manufacture defence equipment

• The Prime Minister said that India has made a list of 100 important items related to defence, which can be manufactured indigenously with the help of our local industries

• He said the government has taken steps to bring about de-licensing, de-regulation, export promotion, foreign investment liberalization, etc

New Delhi: While assuring the private sector that the government is doing everything it can to prioritise indigenous manufacturing and procurement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged private players in the defence sector to come forward and take up both designing and manufacturing of the defence equipment under the umbrella of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Addressing a webinar on the effective implementation of the Union Budget provisions in the defence sector on Monday, Modi said that a part has been reserved for domestic procurement even in the capital budget of defence.

'Defence 101 list is a positive list, will boost indigenous manufacturing'

The Prime Minister further said that India has made a list of 100 important items related to defence, which can be manufactured indigenously with the help of our local industries. He said a timeline has been set so that our industries can plan to meet these requirements.

He said it is called a negative list in the official language but it is a positive list in the language of self-reliance. This is the positive list on which the country's manufacturing capacity is going to increase. This is the positive list that will generate employment in India. This is the positive list that is going to reduce India's dependence on foreign countries for our defence needs. This is the positive list that guarantees the sale of indigenous products in India.

'Ordnance factories not strengthened as much as they should've been'

Modi said that there used to be hundreds of ordnance factories before independence. In both the world wars, weapons at large scale were exported from India. But, for many reasons, this system has not been strengthened as much as it should have been after independence. The Prime Minister said that his government has relied on the capabilities of our engineers and scientists on developing the Tejas fighter aircraft and today Tejas is flying gracefully in the skies. A few weeks back, an order worth Rs. 48,000 crore was placed for Tejas.

Govt working on de-licensing, de-regulation of defence sector: PM

He said that since 2014, it has been the government's endeavor to move forward in this sector with transparency, predictability and ease of doing business. Modi said the government has taken steps to bring about de-licensing, de-regulation, export promotion, foreign investment liberalization, etc.

He said that MSMEs work as a backbone for the entire manufacturing sector. The reforms that are taking place today are giving more freedom to MSMEs and encouragement to expand.

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The Prime Minister said that the defence corridors that are being built in the country today will also help local entrepreneurs and local manufacturing. "That is, today, self-sufficiency in our defence sector has to be seen as the empowerment of these two fronts – "Jawan as well as Naujawan," said the PM.

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