Antony: Defence PSUs will have to compete

Nov 11, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

Defence minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday said defence public sector undertakings (PSUs) would not automatically be nominated for naval contracts for shipbuilding and that they would have to compete with private Indian defence companies from January, 2011, as per a defence production policy being prepared by the ministry of

defence for the first time ever. He described the move as a “drastic” step to ensure indigenisation and emphasised that India must work towards ending its excessive dependence on foreign countries for armaments, adding that such dependence was not good for India which aspired for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
“We took a decision that hereafter no more nominations to the shipyards ... Public sector shipyards will have to compete with the Indian private shipyards to get projects for the Indian Navy. So all the Indian Navy’s procurements in future will be from ‘Buy Indian, Make Indian’ (policy). That will help us to have a strong defence industrial base in India,” Mr Antony said. “From January, 2011 onwards, we hope to introduce the new Defence Production Policy as well as the Defence Procurement Policy. So now we are going to take some more drastic steps to achieve our goal of speedy indigenisation,” he added.
“Our aim is to have a strong defence industrial base in India, because a country like India cannot indefinitely depend on foreign suppliers for majority of our equipment. At the moment 65-70 per cent of the equipment are imported, we have to reverse this trend. So we will continue to support the PSUs, but at the same time PSUs alone will not be able to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces. So now we are formulating a new policy,” the minister said.
“A growing nation like India, a nation aspiring for the membership of the Security Council, a place on the high table of the nations (and) still depending heavily on foreign countries for supply of defence equipment is not good for us,” the minister added.
Defence indigenisation will also boost job creation in India.

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