Defence ministry notifies fourth positive indigenisation list to reduce arms dependence. The Government has introduced a comprehensive revamped ‘Make and Innovation’ procedure. Defence Ministry has notified fourth positive indigenisation list to boost self-reliance. A comprehensive revamped ‘Make and Innovation’ procedure has been introduced. This is a step to achieve self-reliance in defence manufacturing and minimize imports by DPSUs

NEW DELHI: As part of the efforts to achieve self-reliance in defence manufacturing and minimize imports by the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), a positive indigenisation list has been notified by the Department. The list includes 2,500 imported items which have already been indigenized and 351 high-value imported items which will be indigenised in the next three years. Out of 351 items, 147 items have already been indigenised.

The Government has introduced a comprehensive revamped ‘Make and Innovation’ procedure to reduce dependency on arms and promote indigenous manufacturing of defence equipment. The ‘Make and Innovation’ procedure has been introduced in DAP-20 to facilitate indigenous design and development of defence equipment through private participation with both government funding and industry funding.

A series of Positive Indigenisation Lists of defence weapons and equipment which would not be imported from abroad have been promulgated. The first Positive Indigenisation list comprising of 101 items was promulgated in August 2020, the second Positive Indigenisation List comprising of 108 items was promulgated in May 2021 and the third Indigenisation list comprising of 101 items was promulgated in April 2022.

This information was given by Junior Defence Minister Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to Sandosh Kumar P in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

A separate procedure for the ‘Make-II’ category (Industry funded) has been notified to encourage indigenous development and manufacture of defence equipment. A number of industry friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry/ individuals etc. have been introduced in this procedure.

So far, 72 projects relating to the Army, Navy & Air Force, have been accorded ‘Approval in Principle’. 38 Acceptance of Necessity (AONs), 05 prototypes developed and 2 procurement contracts have been signed by the Services.

Impact of Aatmanirbhar Bharat In Defence Manufacturing

In line with the budget announcement for the financial year 2022-2023 of allocating 25% of the Defence Research and Development (R&D) budget for industry led R&D , 18 major platforms have been approved by the government for industry led Design and Development under Make I, Make II, SPV Model and iDEX routes.

An innovation ecosystem for Defence titled Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) has been launched in April, 2018 to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and Academia.

iDEX route of procurement has been simplified and timelines have been compressed from 2 years earlier to just five months by reforming the trial process. The Government has approved a Scheme with an outlay of Rs 498.78 crore (2021-22 to 2025-26) to push innovation and support start-ups in the defence and aerospace sectors. This will enable more than 300 start-ups to participate in the new design and development projects and also support 20 partner incubators.

Another list of DPSUs for indigenization of 107 Line Replaceable Units (LRUs)/Sub-systems of high value platform was notified on 28.03.2022. As on date, 4 LRUs have been indigenised; 5 LRUs are at trial stage and 31 LRUs are at design and development stage.

An indigenisation portal, namely SRIJAN, has been launched in August, 2020 for DPSUs/OFB/Services with an industry interface to provide development support to MSMEs/Start-ups/Industry for import substitution.

Promote Indigenous Manufacturing

So far, more than 21,000 defence items, which were earlier imported, have been displayed on the portal. 388 private vendors have expressed interest in indigenising more than 4,700 items and so far 410 items have been indigenised.

Further, the Make-II route of procurement has been simplified and timelines have been compressed from 2 years earlier to just 5 months by reforming the trial process. As part of the ease of doing business, the export procedure has been simplified and made completely online. This has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of Export Authorizations issued.

The Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) has been formulated to create 6 to 8 Greenfield Defence Testing Infrastructures in the country and attain ‘Atmanirbharta’ in the Defence Testing Infrastructure for the domestic industry.

As part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the Government organised an event ‘AiDef’ on July 11, 2022 where, for the first time, 75 defence specific Artificial Intelligence (AI) products were launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. During the event, three AI products of DPSUs were also launched for the market.