Mumbai : The Defence Ministry is planning to shift its focus from major private companies and public sector units (PSUs) to small and medium scale industries (SMEs) in the field of defence production as small segments are believed to be efficient, punctual and innovative.
Experts think this way, says Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, an engineering graduate from IIT, who opened the doors of defence production to young entrepreneurs — a move that can eventually give direct and indirect employment to around one million people in the next five years. It will be instrumental in catapulting the Make in India initiative of PMNarendra Modi to new heights.
Parrikar was in Western Naval Command (WNS) in the city on Wednesday for the commissioning of INS Kochi. The Indian Navy, which has been transforming from ‘buyers navy’ to ‘sellers navy’ and is ahead in indigenisation as compare to the two other forces — the Indian Army and Indian Air Force — will be the first to open its doors to SMEs.
“We are planning to give more attention to small scale industries and entrepreneurs for defence production,” Parrikar said.
He underlined that such industries are rich in ideas and focus on innovations. “The ministry is working on institutional partnership with small and medium scale industries in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) which is still being discussed in MoD and suggestions and objections are being addressed,” he said, adding that it would then be converted into an ‘actionable document’ and be named as DPP 2015.
Vishnudas Sheshrao
