The draft Defence Production Policy 2018 has set an objective lo enhance annual defence exports to Rs 35,000 crores by 2025 from the current level ofRs 6,000 crores annually. After the opening of liberalization of the defence sector in 2001, there has been a significant rise in the defence production by private sector enterprises. However,the increasein numberof has not grown on the same scale.

The Defence Export Promotion Scheme has been launched with an objective to provide two options to prospective defence exports for improving marketability of their products globally.

Option 1. The first option is to get a certificate “Fit For Indian Military Use” if the vendor is found to be technically qualified bidder in a procurement situation. Where more than one vendor is technically qualified, the scheme proposes to create mechanism to grant relevant certification to the technically qualified bidder for their respective products and the associated specifications. A certificate would be issued by the Department of Defence saying “Fit for Indian Military Use”. This certificate can be produced by the prospective exporter for marketing their products in the global market. The request can be made to the DGQA, DGAQA or DGNAI.

Option 2. A second option is applicable in case a product is not required by the Indian armed forces while an Indian manufacturer has the capability to develop an item with export potential. The scheme would provide access to testing infrastructure of the MoD for initial product validation and subsequent field trials, under certain conditions.

The notified field firing ranges open to private industry for sharing are given in the table. The cost of testing and evaluation would be arrived at on a ‘case to case’ basis and would be borne by the exporter/ manufacturer.