India to make 15-year arms procurement plan public

Much sought after by the armed forces, India will soon publish the ’Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap’ delineating India’s military requirements over the next 15 years. Defence Minister A.K. Antony made the declaration while inaugurating Defexpo India 2010, the sixth Land and Naval Systems Defence Exhibition in Delhi on Monday.

A key indicator of the defence industry’s requirements, the roadmap will “make our Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) transparent and speed up the process”, Antony said. The capability roadmap will be put on the Ministry of Defence website.

India will continue to substantially increase the budget for military modernisation. “India’s defence expenditure is about 2.5 per cent of its GDP. The Indian economy is expected to grow at 8 to 10 per cent for the next two decades. Expenditure on defence in absolute terms is bound to increase in equal proportion,” the Minister said, brandishing a carrot for the defence industry.

Policy initiatives are being taken to build a strong defence industrial base in India to put an end to excessive dependence on foreign suppliers. A new Defence Production Policy is on the way and changes are being made in the current DPP. “India must achieve a high level of indigenisation in defence. Our quest for self-reliance in defence underlines the importance of private sector participation on the one hand and revitalising the public sector on the other,” the Defence Minister said.

“We’re determined to increase the share of domestic companies in the Indian defence market. The forthcoming (updated) DPP 2010 will give a momentum to Indian industry. We’ll buy foreign only if we’re convinced that Indian companies can’t do it,” Antony later elaborated at a press conference.

The Defence Minister clarified that India would continue to engage foreign companies so far as critical and futuristic technologies are concerned. “We welcome and invite the support of the best in the world in our endeavour to modernise our armed forces,” he said.

Antony acknowledged the importance of foreign participation in building India’s defence industrial competence. “The recent introduction of ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ category in the DPP aims at encouraging the Indian private industry to form joint ventures with any foreign manufacturer,” he said.

India is gradually becoming a key outsourcing hub for the global defence industry. The introduction of the Defence Offsets Policy is a facilitator towards this end. The Union minister informed that changes are being made to render the offsets policy more feasible. “Offset banking is now part of the Defence Offsets Policy and the licencing conditions have also been rationalised. Necessary administrative structures have been put in place in the Ministry of Defence to facilitate offset banking,” he assured.

The minister described the response to Defexpo 2010 as “beyond expectations”, and promised that the next edition of the show, scheduled to be held in February 9 to 12, 2012, would be much bigger.