Union defence minister Rajnath Singh announcedm on 9 August, that the defence ministry will embargo 101 items to give a boost to indigenous defence production in a bid to strengthen the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative taken by the PM Narendra Modi.
Singh said that over the 6-7 years the Indian defence industry will get contracts worth almost four lakh crore. The current contract of items that were taken by the tri-services between 2015 and 2020 from the embargo list cost Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
The union defence minister said that the decision to achieve self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector and said the announcement was made early to allow time for the armed forces to acclimatise and also to provide time to domestic industries for preparation.
Rajnath Singh said that the decision to embargo 101 items will give a big boost to India’s self-reliant initiatives in the defence sector. Singh said that this presents an opportunity for the nation’s defence industry to manufacture the items in the embargoed list by using their own design or by adopting the technologies developed by the DRDO.
Rajnath Singh highlighted that the domestic defence industry can expect defence contracts worth Rs 4 lakh crores to be given to them within the next 6-7 years.
Union minister said that the list of embargoed items was made after holding discussions with several stakeholders which included public & private industry members along with the armed forces. The exercise was conducted to assess the current capability and ability to handle demand in the future.
The list of embargoed items include artillery guns, LCH, sonar weapons system, high-tech weapons systems, corvettes, assault rifles, transport aircrafts and armoured fighting vehicles.
The office of the defence minister said that the measures will be implemented within 2020 to 2024. The announcement was made early to apprise the Indian defence industry of the need and requirements for India’s armed forces.
The defence ministry also said that the Indian Navy and Air Force will receive items worth almost Rs 1,30,000 crore from the list of items and the Navy shall receive items worth almost Rs 1,40,000 crore. The Army is also expected to import wheeled 200 Armoured Fighting Vehicle worth Rs 5,000 crore each whose embargo date is December 2021.
The defence minister also said that the ministry will hand hold the defence industry and co-ordinate a mechanism to make sure that timelines are met for domestic production of the items which are on the embargoed list.
Singh said the identification of further items which could be added to the embargoed list shall continue.
