With the Defence Ministry uploading the Strategic Partnership (SP) policy on its official website on Wednesday, the long-awaited measure is now in public domain. It will help the Indian private sector and foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to study the policy cleared by the Union Cabinet last week and forge joint ventures to build sophisticated weapon systems like submarines, helicopters and fighter jets here as part of ‘Make in India’ policy.
The SP policy has now become the final chapter of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) thereby enabling the Indian private sector as per their core area of competence to build complex weapon systems in collaboration with foreign OEM.
“The SP model is being implemented to enable participation of private Indian firms in ‘Make in India’ in Defence. The SP is expected to play the role of a System Integrator by building an extensive eco-system comprising development partners, specialised vendors and suppliers,” the policy says.
It stipulates selection and evaluation criteria for identifying the Indian player as Strategic Partner and the policy said currently the Indian private sector has “limited experience in Defence manufacturing and even lesser in respect of final integration” of complex Defence systems and sub-systems.”
Appreciating this fact, the policy said “besides any experience in defence manufacturing, potential SPs will be identified primarily based on their experience and competence in integration of multi-disciplinary functional system of systems, engineering and manufacturing.”
In a bid to avoid cancellation of deals in case of single vendor situation, the policy states that “even if only one Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) submits a proposal in any given segment, the process of technical evaluation will be completed.”
The new policy has divided manufacturing into four segments including two for the Navy (submarines and utility helicopters), single engine fighter aircraft for the IAF and armoured vehicles for the Army.