By Vineet Dikshit

NewsGate Press Network

The new re-elected Narendra Modi government has issued the much awaited list of weapons and weapon systems to be made in India rather than being imported.

This time around 346 military hardware and electronics have been notified to replace import of such items.

According to a release issued the Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier today, the Department of Defence Production (DDP) has notified new list dated interestingly as 25th of June 2024.

It may be recalled that just few days back the Central Government has decided to observe 25th June each year as ‘Sanvidhan Hatya Divas’ (Murder of Democracy Day) – the day when Emergency was imposed in India in the year 1975.

The MoD release adds that the Fifth List includes among other things – strategically important Line Replacement Units/Systems/ Sub-systems/Assemblies/Sub-assemblies/Spares & Components and raw materials, with import substitution value worth Rs 1,048 crore.

The items will only be procured from the Indian Industry after the timelines of indigenisation as indicated in the list available on the Srijan portal (https://srijandefence.gov.in). The items are available in the attached list.

(5TH POSITIVE INDIGENISATION LIST FOR DPSUs – DDP)

The Ministry of Defence had launched the SRIJAN PORTAL in 2020.

On this portal, DPSUs and Service Headquarters (SHQs) offer defence items to the industries, including MSMEs and start-ups, for indigenisation.

The DPSUs will undertake indigenisation of the items mentioned in the fifth PIL through various routes including ‘Make’ procedure or in-house development involving the industry, including MSMEs.

This will provide impetus to the growth in economy, enhanced investment in defence and lead to reduced import dependence.

In addition, this will augment the design capabilities of domestic defence Industry due to the involvement of academia and research institutions.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), BEML Limited, India Optel Limited (IOL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) are the DPSUs involved in defence items of the fifth PIL.

These have initiated process for issuing Expressions of Interest/Requests for Proposal on their respective websites with a link on the ‘Srijan Portal Dashboard (srijandefence.gov.in/DashboardForPublic) specifically designed for this purpose, and Industry/MSMEs/start-ups may come forward to participate in large numbers.

Earlier, four PILs comprising 4,666 items were notified by the DDP for DPSUs, of which 2,972, having import substitution value worth Rs 3,400 crore, have already been indigenised.

These five lists for DPSUs are in addition to the five positive indigenisation lists of 509 items notified by the Department of Military Affairs (DMA).

These lists include highly-complex systems, sensors, weapons and ammunition.

Till June 2024, over 36,000 defence items were offered to the industry for indigenisation by the DPSUs and SHQs.

Of them, more than 12,300 items have been indigenised in the last three years. As a result, the DPSUs have placed orders on domestic vendors to the tune of Rs 7,572 crore.