To step up defence production within the country, India is looking at collaborating with other nations, the Army chief said

NEW DELHI: India has depended on import of weapon, but it is now focusing on manufacturing weapons in the country with the transfer of technology, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said today.

The reliance of the armed forces has also been on ordnance factories but the picture is now changing, he said.

"We have always depended on import of equipment in our country. And therefore, what happened was, we did not allow the indigenous industry to develop," Rawat said.

The Army told a parliamentary panel that the funds allocated to it in the defence budget for the next fiscal is insufficient to deal with various security challenges facing the country including from a more assertive China along the northern border and from a hostile Pakistan on the western frontier.

Both China as well as Pakistan were carrying out modernisation of their defence forces in "full swing".

Rawat's comments were in response to a question in this regard.

To step up defence production within the country, India is looking at collaborating with other nations, he said.

Rawat added that the Request for Information (RFI) has been issued for nine types of very high quality ammunition so that they can be manufactured in our country with transfer of technology.