On July 21, 2023, the Union Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt, informed the Lok Sabha (Lower House) that the value of defence production has crossed the figure of Rs 1 lakh crores for the first time ever during the financial year 2022-2023. He was answering a question from Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, a prominent Indian politician in Lok Sabha (Buldhana Constituency).
The value currently stands at Rs 1,06,800 crores. The value of the current defence production in the Financial Year 2022-23 is 12 per cent over the financial year 2021-2022. At that time, the figure was Rs 95,000 crores
In his written reply, Ajay Bhatt further informed that the Union Government has introduced several measures to encourage indigenous design, development and the manufacture of defence equipment by the Indian industry. This includes the MSMEs (Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and several start-ups, thereby promoting the ease of doing business with manufacturing and technology in the country.
He threw light on several government schemes that enable and promote the involvement of MSMEs and several startups. He also added that the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP 2020) has special provisions to propel the MSMEs and startup ecosystems in the defence sector.
Furthermore, the PSU (Public Sector Undertakings) in the defence sector and the three services have also put 30,000 defence items on the SRIJAN portal to pursue Atmanirbhar Bharat in defence production, the Union Minister of State (Defence), Ajay Bhatt added in his reply.
Talking about the several schemes of the Union Government that are launched to foster innovation and technology in the defence sector. He highlighted the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme that grants and supports funds to carry out Research and Development (R&D) in futuristic technologies.
Defence Production in India is carried out by the Department of Defence Production (DDP). It was set up in the year 1962 with the objective of developing a comprehensive production infrastructure to produce weapons, systems and platforms and equipment related to defence. The products that are manufactured include tanks, helicopters, fighter and transport aircraft, submarines, surface ships for the Indian Navy and helicopters, along with arms, armour and ammunition.
It is one of the four main Departments of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The Indian Defence Industry is a heterogeneous mixture of DPSUs (Defence Public Sectors Undertaking), Ordnance Factories, private military companies and private sector elements. Some of them have attained joint ventures so as to boost defence production in India.
Examples of the DPSUs include MIDHANI (Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited) for alloys and critical metals., The Ordnance Factories produce small arms, rifles, troop equipment and heavy platforms such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) are two prominent state-owned enterprises.
Naval weapon platforms and equipment, such as destroyers, frigates, corvettes, ships and submarines, are built by several DPSU Shipyards, notably the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders Limited (GRSE) and the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL).
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has entered into co-production schemes in developing fighters of the Indian AIR Force, such as the Sukhoi-30MKI. The LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas, LCH Prachanda, and HAL Rudra are leading examples of the “Make In India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” indigenous defence production initiatives by PM Narendra Modi.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is India’s prominent R&D institution that has indigenously designed and manufactured missiles and drones, particularly for Indian Army. These include the joint venture BrahMos, anti-tank Nag missile, Shaurya, and Trishul. Akash and Lakshya Drones.
Private military companies such as Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, CRON Systems, Godrej, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Kalyani Group, and Reliance Naval Shipyard have heavily contributed to the Indian Defence Industry and assisted the DPSUs in achieving overall growth of the Indian defence sector
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