The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Strategic Partnership policy to promote the Indian private sector to build weapon systems including submarines, fighter jets and armoured vehicles as part of ‘Make in India’ policy. The Indian companies can now tie up with foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to build these high tech systems in the country.
“The Cabinet took note of this proposal which deals with encouraging Make in India with respect to defence equipment,” Jaitley told media persons after the meeting. The Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) chaired by Jaitely had given the nod for broad contours of the Strategic Partnership on Saturday last week.
Jaitley said that the new model which is part of the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) was a matter of the Defence Ministry. “Because it is an important issue, the cabinet took note of it,” he added. He also said it would be seen how Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) can be made part of this and what their contribution would be.