Blog

Defence indigenization

Defence indigenization

Defence indigenisation means defence equipment and weapons conceptualised, designed, made, or manufactured in India.

Defence indigenisation means defence equipment and weapons conceptualised, designed, made, or manufactured in India.

As per Stockholm International Peace Research Institute( SIPRI), India is the second-largest arms importer between 2014 and 2019. It imported weapons worth US$ 16.75 billion during this period.

1983- Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme(IGMDP)- indigenisation of defence in India started with the IGMDP. This programme aims to develop five missile systems.
Prithvi- surface to surface
Akash- surface to air
Trishul- naval version of Prithvi
Nag- anti-tank guided missile
Agni- ballistic missile


Significance/ Need of indigenisation- 

India is the world's second-largest importer of defence equipment- valuable foreign exchange reserves must be spent while acquiring these arms and ammunition.
Impact on trade deficits- defence indigenisation can cover the trade deficit created due to defence imports' Cato services.
Not securing domestic capability can make India perpetually dependent on other countries. Not just for manufacturing but also for services. 
It will lead to employment generation in the secondary and tertiary sectors leading to overall industrial growth as the establishment of the defence industry will require support from other industries.
It will lead to India's strategic development and autonomy.


Challenges/ Issues in case of Defence Indigenization- 

To have a domestic defence manufacturing industry, there is a need for basic industries like critical minerals and semiconductors etc. 
Our premium institutes, like IITs and NITs, do not separate streams specialising in defence technology.
Access to the latest defence technology.
There are tremendous delays not just in designing and manufacturing but also in the acquisition process because there needs to be coordination and interaction between the users, designer and maker. 
Lack of liberalisation in defence manufacturing and all the major players being public sector undertakings subsequently leads to the final product being sub-standard or extreme delays rendering it useless.
Lack of strategic direction and coordination- since various ministries are working together, lack of coordination leads to delays in decision-making.
The technology development process remains opaque as the defence and space sectors are critical for countries' security.
High logistic cost in India, affecting its forward and backward linkages.

Government initiatives- 

Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence - 
for the production and designing of new weapons,
Manages and runs an ordnance factory, 
manages arms
Defence procurement policy-
Under this policy, the indigenously designed developed and manufactured weapons will be given the highest priority in defence procurement.
To develop a dynamic, robust, and competitive defence industry, including the Aerospace and Naval shipbuilding industry, to cater to the needs of armed forces with quality products.
To reduce dependence on imports and take forward make-in-India initiatives through domestic design and development.
To promote the export of defence products and become part of the global defence value chain.
E-biz portal- So is to fasten and streamline the industrial licence in this particular sector.
Procurement Reforms- the government has proposed to make a negative list. 
Negative list- The equipment which will find its place in the negative list will not be imported but can only be domestically manufactured. So the government has planned to increase the negative list. If the government releases the negative list, the people interested in defence technology can start designing and producing by looking at that list. As of now, they do not have to fight against foreign vendors.
Outsourcing and vendor development- The government has developed these guidelines to promote the participation of the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises.
Defence PSUs- eg.
Hindustan aeronautics limited, 
Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited, GRSE
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, MDL.
Hindustan Shipyard Limited, HSL
FDI Policy- it has been reformed in 2020, and as per this policy, if the investment is less than 49%, then it can happen through the government route. Moreover, if it is more than 49%, then the approval of the cabinet committee on security(CCS) is required.
Defence corridors- in UP and Madras. They have been selected based on the high potential for creating an end-to-end ecosystem for Aerospace and Defence sector development covering design, engineering and manufacturing.
Chief of Defence Staff- Post of CDS was created to ensure defence modernisation.
In-house Design- Indian army has a house design team which runs the programme proof of delivery of designing new weapons.
Uniform excise and customs duties for all industries- private or public- to have a level playing field. Thus promoting competition, efficiency and innovation.
The restrictions on annual capacity in the industrial license have been removed to reduce the government's monopoly and control.
Ordnance factory board- it has been corporatised in order to have greater accountability.
DRDO- the prime agency responsible for designing and developing state of the art and technology. Some successful technologies developed by DRDO are the Prithvi missile, Agni missile and Tejas.

 

Way forward-

Development of a domestic industrial base supported by a robust supply chain. 
Categorisation of weapons into those that can be imported and those that can be made locally. The categorisation will help in policy formulation.
Promoting ease of doing business
Using modern technology by integrating artificial intelligence, software industry.