Govt approves 4th 'positive indigenisation list' of sub-systems to promote domestic defence industry

The Defence Ministry has come out with a new positive indigenisation list prohibiting the import of 928 components in defence manufacturing giving yet another push towards local production of the parts and systems needed to make warships, fighter jets and trainer aircraft for the Indian armed forces.

The list notified on May 12 carries the details of the items required by the state-owned defence manufacturers like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited doesn’t put an immediate import ban on the imported items they are using, but allow the companies to source it from abroad till a specific time after which the production units are forbidden to import them.

More than 850 items on the list are used by Mumbai-based Mazagon dock which constructs frontline warships like destroyers, frigates and submarines. The MDL has been allowed to use the imported items till December 2027 to complete the ongoing projects.

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The fourth list is in continuation to the previous three such lists that were published in December 2021, March 2022 and August 2022 respectively.

Taken together, they contain 2,500 items that are already indigenised and 1,238 (351+107+780) items, which will be indigenised within the given timelines.

A defence ministry official said out of the 1,238 items that are to be indigenised, as many as 310 products (262 from the first list; 11 from the second and 37 from the third) had been indigenised.

Such lists are a part of the BJP-led Union government’s strategies to boost defence manufacturing in India with greater involvement of the private sector.

The government has set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore of defence production by 2025, which includes the export of Rs 35,000 crore. India has nearly 200 defence start-ups building innovative tech solutions in addition to known players and state-owned firms.

During the Aero-India, 2023 in February, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced reserving 75 per cent of the defence ministry’s capital procurement budget exclusively for the domestic industry in the current fiscal, opening up a Rs 1.22 lakh crore business opportunity for Indian companies to supply arms, ammunition, sensors, electronics and other systems to the armed forces.

The defence public sector units would now undertake indigenisation of the items with in-house development, involvement of the MSME sector and private industry, the defence ministry said in a statement.