Separate ‘Make in India’ Policy for Defence?

The Union Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar today categorically stated that the government ‘has not finalised positively or negatively’ the French multi medium role combat aircraft (MMRCA) - Rafale. The deal, he said, presently is with the commercial negotiation committee (CNC) and that he has asked for a final report which is likely to be submitted next month.

Addressing a press conference after the inauguration of the 10th edition of Aero India International Airshow, Parrikar said ‘let the CNC complete the process’. The MMRCA project is to acquire 126 French Rafale aircraft. According to media reports there are issues between Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on the issue of ‘ownership’ of 108 Rafale aircraft which the latter should manufacture if the deal comes through. There are also issues of price.

Parrikar clarified that the delay in the decision-making process on the MMRCA had not affected the operational capability of the Indian Air Force. “We have improved availability of the existing fleet.” The downtime of an aircraft going for repairs and maintenance has been brought down. Asked whether the MoD would go for any other aircraft in the interim, he said “I will not be discussing my strategy with the media’.

HAL asked to accelerate production

Appreciating Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on the helicopters it had produced (Dhruv, Rudra etc), he said HAL however had to accelerate its production from the current 20/30 units to more. “I am impressing upon HAL to improve their production rate. The helicopter industry is growing fast. We have a combined requirement of 388 and we have opened it up for ‘Make in India’.” Besides, there was growing demand from the civilian market.

There were two routes to meet the market requirement, HAL locating a manufacturing line in one of its many locations and the other opening it up to the private sector.

Make in India – Separat e policy

Mr. Parikkar said the government has been thinking of coming out with a separate policy for defence sector on ‘Make in India’. “We have been in discussions on whether Make in India should be outside the defence production procedure (DPP) and we will take a call soon on that.” The policy changes would be notified in April/May this year. In the next five years, we would like to have nearly 75 per cent of defence production under ‘Make in India’.

The DPP itself needed clarity, he said and mentioned how there was confusion with regard to ‘Buy in India’ (which needed 30 per cent Indian composition); ‘Buy and Make in India’ (50 per cent). “The 50 per cent is not well defined.” Even Offsets the government was going through the document and major changes are expected soon. The policy will include small and medium enterprises in a substantial way.

Aero India stays in Bengaluru

Scotching rumours that the next edition of Aero India would be either held in Goa (his home state) or in Surat (home state of the Prime Minister), Mr. Parikkar said it would be held in Bengaluru as ‘it is the apt place for the job’. However, there was need to expand the area and make it more convenient.

Stating that this edition had attracted considerable interest, he said the exhibition area had gone up from 1.25 lakh sq. m to 2.50 lakh sq.m; the number of Indian companies had shot up from 156 to 295 and foreign from 212 to 328; foreign delegations from 78 to 109; number of countries from 31 to 49; and number of aircraft from 63 to 72. “Interest in the defence sector has gone up tremendously and we expect the results of the business deals in the near future.”