Govt will not cancel Defence acquisitions which are coming to conclusion but is clear about those already being investigated: Parrikar
The Union Government is trying to make country self-reliant in arms production but it will have to examine whether making all weapons in India “would be economical”, according to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Answering members during Question Hour in the lok Sabha, Parrikar said the Government would not cancel Defence acquisitions which are coming to a conclusion but is clear about those already being investigated. On AgustaWestland chopper deal, he said it was scrapped and the issue was under advance stage of investigation.
He said the Government is trying for indigenisation of arms production by way of “Make it India”. The Minister was, however, quick to add that it was not economical to make some weapons in India. Asked by Adhir Ranjan (Congress) whether FDI in Defence sector was in conflict with the indigenisation process, he said foreign parts (of weapons) cannot be made in India “unless we have the license”.
On another question from KV Reddy (TRS) on whether indigenisation figures were ‘misleading’, the Defence Minister said “figures hide more than they reveal” but assured that over time the DRDO has indicated that Defence PSUs would increasingly indigenise weapon components. “It may not be economical,” he stressed.
Touching on the indigenisation theme, Saugata Roy (TMC) asked about time overrun by citing the example of delay in the production of light combat aircraft. While he maintained that only missile production was successful, he asked the Minister about new weapons’ acquisition by the Government. Parrikar said the Government has already cleared deals to the tune of `75,000 crore. He said private sector would be roped in for indigenisation of defence production.
India has exported defence equipment to the tune of `1,812.17 crore since 2011, according to Parrikar. The exports are undertaken by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Private Industry (based on the NOCs issued by the Defence Ministry).
According to the statistics, India exported defence equipment worth `512.48 crore in 2011 and equipment worth `446.75 crore in 2012.
The highest was in 2013 when India exported defence equipment to the tune of `686.27 crore while the provisional value of defence gooods exported this year, till September, was `166.67 crore.
In a written reply to lok Sabha, Parrikar noted that in the Union Budget 2014-15, the Government has announced a Technology Development Fund with an initial sum of `100 crore to provide necessary resources to public and private sector companies, including small and medium-sized.