Positive Indigenisation List

In News

Recently, a positive indigenisation list of sub-systems/assemblies/subassemblies/components has been notified by the Ministry of Defence. 

Major Points 

• The products will only be procured from Indian Industry after the timelines indicated in the list.
  • The list contains 2,500 imported items that have already been indigenised and 351 imported items which will be indigenised in the next three years.

• Details of these items are available on the Srijan portal. 
• In this decade they would increase the items under the Positive list for indigenisation from 209 to over 1,000.

• DPSUs will work in close coordination with the local industrial supply chain to ensure strict adherence to the stipulated timelines
• Two positive indigenisation lists of weapons/platforms/systems/ammunition etc have already been notified by the Department of Military Affairs.
• Necessary certifications/approval of all items included in the list shall be granted on priority by the stakeholder’s concerns
• At present, India’s defence and aerospace manufacturing market

• It is worth ?85,000 crores, of which the present contribution of the private sector was ?18,000 crore. 
• In 2022, the country’s defence and aerospace manufacturing market would increase to ?1 lakh crore and could reach ?5 lakh crore by 2047.
• The Ministry is also expected to put out the final version of the ‘Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020’, the draft of which has been released for public feedback.

Other technological interventions

• In a separate development, the Army had established a quantum lab at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow in MP.
  • It aims to spearhead research and training with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) as part of a focus on emerging technology domains.
• The Army has also established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre at the same institution with over 140 deployments in forwarding areas and active support of industry and academia. 
  • Training on cyberwarfare is being imparted through a state of art cyber range, and cyber security labs.
• Ideation for the Army’s involvement in Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations was done in a seminar on Electromagnetic Spectrum and National Security organised in October last year.
  • Since then an impetus had been given to the Army’s technology institutions for investing in AI, quantum and cyber.

Image Courtesy: DD News Twitter 

About Positive Indigenization List

• The positive indigenisation list essentially means that the Armed Forces—Army, Navy, and Air Force—will only procure the listed items from domestic manufacturers. The manufacturers could be private sector players or Defense Public Sector Undertakings(DPSUs).

Significance

• It will boost the efforts to achieve self-reliance in defence manufacturing.
• It will help in minimising imports by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). 
• This Atma Nirbhar initiative will save foreign exchange approximately equivalent to Rs. 3,000 cr every year. 
• It will give impetus to national Research and Development as more investment will come here.

Way Ahead

• India cannot be import-dependent if it has to fight and win future wars. Indigenisation, therefore, is the way forward.
• India’s aspiration of becoming a regional power can be achieved through domestic defence manufacturing and minimising imports.

Sources: PIB + TH