Defence Manufacturing is gradually being weaned away from DPSUs, as foreign defence contractors of major economies are investing in India's more reliable & efficient Private Industry

NEW DELHI: Seeking to "significantly enhance" the country's design capabilities in the defence segment, the government will next week launch a new initiative to boost the quantum of intellectual property in the sector, a top official said on Saturday.

Secretary, defence production, Ajay Kumar interacting with reporters at his office in South Block, said, from April-October, "As many as 204 fresh patents have been applied for various designs by several defence units across the country."

"The extent of intellectual property was low. We want to significantly enhance the country's design capabilities and achieve self-reliance in the defence sector, so as to also reduce transfer of technology or import of technology, and thus reduce cost," he said.

Therefore, a new initiative has been planned by the defence ministry, and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will launch 'Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti' on November 27, the senior official said.

He said the scope of the initiative would initially be for defence PSUs and OFB (Ordnance Factories Board), but later, the plan is to expand it to include other parts of the defence production ecosystem too.

The secretary said that "the count of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) awarded till March 2018, stands at 133. And, from April to October, another 204 have been filed," Kumar said.

According to data shared by him, among the PSUs Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL) leads in the number of patents filed, at 63, followed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at 37, BEML at 28 and OFB at 20.

Asked, if the IPR applications are for national or global level, Kumar said, "First the applications will go to the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks in the country, and then as per the response, we would apply for global patent as well."

"Under this new initiative, the target is to reach filing of 1,000 IP applications in year 2018-2019, and train 10,000 people from various PSUs and OFB. As many as 5,283 of them have already been trained from April-October," he said.

On November 27, besides the launch event at the DRDO Bhawan, a workshop would also be held on IPR.

Asked about the training procedure, Kumar said, besides, in-house trainers, "we also invite external trainers, and they train the master trainers, who in turn train other trainers".

"The initial immediate need was more on manufacturing, but now with more and more technologies coming up, we are trying to encourage design capabilities as well," he said.

The Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA), which falls under the Department of Defence Production, is the custodian of design received by India from transfer of technology, he said, adding that now, a separate vertical has been created as part of this initiative and a three-level "IP cells" have also been set up.

"The first level is shop floor or unit level, second is factory level and the third is corporate level, so as to proliferate the idea of new designs," Kumar said.