The Defence Ministry has signed a ₹5,500 crore contract for additional indigenous Akash Surface to Air Missile (SAM) systems and in the next one year, contracts worth ₹70,000-80,000 crore are expected to be signed with Indian industry.
“Akash SAM contract was signed two days back worth ₹5,500 crore. Though Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) are the main vendors, there are almost 150 private vendors involved,” Apurva Chandra, Director-General, Acquisition, in the Defence Ministry, said at a session on Make in India organised by the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers. The deal is for seven additional Akash units for the Indian Air Force.
There are some major deals in final stages to be awarded to Indian companies which include Pinaka rocket launchers, Light Combat Aircraft, Mk-1A, Light Combat Helicopter and towed artillery guns among others. Together deals worth ₹70,000-80,000 crore to be signed in the next one year, he added.
On shortage of funds, he stated that the capital allocation in this year’s defence budget was ₹81,000 crore while the committed liabilities are in excess of ₹1 lakh crore.
Defence exports
The government aims to build a $10 trillion economy by 2032 and defence has been identified as one of the most prominent sectors to contribute to this growth, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
“In our envisaged Defence Production Policy, we have spelt out our goal to achieve a turnover of $26 billion in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025, involving an additional investment of $10 billion and creating employment for nearly 2-3 million people,” Mr. Singh said addressing the session.
He said simplification of procedures had resulted in defence export of ₹10,745 crore in 2018-19, which was nearly seven times the export achieved in 2016-17 and we have set a target of $5 bn for exports till 2024.
