Made-in-India no bar: Armed forces can procure equipment of their choice, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said armed forces have been given the free hand to procure their choice of equipment from Indian or foreign manufacturers as per their requirement even though she always tells them to procure from local sources. 

Despite India looking forward to exporting military equipment, she said that she would not prevail upon the armed forces to necessarily buy from local manufacturer much against certain other requirements. 
"When I am promoting Indian exports, Indian manufacturing, I am also telling the forces to procure as much as possible rocure domestically….I want to drive a thin line between one the government’s enthusiasm to make sure that production capabilities are such that they can meet international standards and be export worthy and the other side of the line where army, navy or Air Force, make their decisions on what they want, what combination of equipment they want and in that combination, if an Indian produce type fits in then they take it. But I cant for a moment imagine that I prevail upon them that they necessarily buy what is Indian, which I also want to export much against certain other requirements which they may want to look at," Nirmala Sitharaman said while addressing a press conference at the ‘DEFEXPO 2018' here.
  
Sitharaman said that it was their call on how many Indian-produced missiles or equipment fits into "their plans and I have to respect that". “They are using indigenous products, maybe not as much as we would want, however, there is a fine line. The forces will have to take a call on what they need,” she noted. 

The tenth edition of the defence exhibition began on Wednesday with the participation of major international and domestic defence firms displaying their cutting-edge products. Sitharaman said that the agenda of this defence exposition was to change India’s image as an importer to India as an exporter of defence products. The tagline of the expo, “India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub”, also suggests India’s ambitious attempt to project itself as a manufacturer of defence products.  “We have given an opportunity to various organisations under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to have multiple spaces to display... It is a conscious decision. If we are not providing space to display who else will," she said. 

According to a press release by the Defence Ministry, a total of 670 defence firms, which includes 154 foreign manufacturers and over 500 domestic companies are participating in this defence exhibition. The DefExpo 2018 has attracted delegations from over 47 countries and is seeing participation from major companies such as Lockheed Martin, Saab, Dassault, Bae Systems, Boeing, Airbus and Rafale. Mazagon Dock Ship Builders will exhibit their P-75 Scorpene Class Stealth Submarine, a multi-purpose support vessel and INS Kolkata-Guided Missile Stealth Destroyer. DRDO’s exhibit will include MBT Arjun MK-1 Tank, Astra Missiles, Varunastra. Other exhibits will include Tejas fighter jets, Dhanush artillery tank and Advanced towed artillery gun systems. 

To a query on the forthcoming Defence Production Policy, Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, said that the ministry had received over 100 comments on the draft DPP. "We are examining these and with consultation with other ministries we will soon come out with the policy,” he said.