PUNE: Minister of State for Defence Dr Subhash Bhamre on Tuesday said the country is going to invest huge resources in modernisation of the defence sector in the coming years. In terms of production and marketing of defence equipment, the market is limited. Hence, a huge thrust is required to boost exports of the products manufactured.
Bhamre was speaking at a seminar on ‘Defence Industry Indigenisation’, jointly organised by defence-related website bharatshakti.in and city-based Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA). Industry leaders and officials from defence organisations were present.
‘PUNE IMPORTANT FOR DEFENCE SECTOR’
“Pune is important because it’s a reckonable industrial hub with adequate industrial activity that could be spurred by the industry increasing its footprint in the defence sector. Cost of importing technology is expensive. The government, industry, R&D establishment and the academia have to come together to evolve Indian technologies for Indian requirements. Today, a lot of our defence equipment is being imported. Should we put our heads together, it should be possible to reverse the equation in the next few years,” Bhamre said.
He added, “Private industry needs to pursue R&D as part of the business models to retain relevance of product portfolios. Capital infusion in the defence industry is another area that requires a thrust. India is going to commit huge resources on defence modernisation in the coming years. Communication between users, R&D establishments and industry is important. Today, every service has its own indigenisation cell. The industry needs to know what the armed forces are looking for. The forces understand that R&D and business establishments require time to develop a world class product. Hence, such a initiative is a big step in giving impetus to the efforts of indigenisation in defence sector.”
‘WORK AS ONE INDIA TO CREATE TOP CLASS DEFENCE INDUSTRY’
Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge, said licensing norms have been liberalised and several policy initiatives have been taken for indigenisation of defence industry. “The Ministry of Defence is accepting suo motu proposals for capital products. We must have this scheme for revenue products as there is import of many products. A lot of innovation is happening in the private industry. We should work as one India to create top class defence industry. It will provide best products to defence forces and also create jobs,” he said.
