Private sector to get level playing field in defence manufacturing: Government

The centre says that it will ensure a level playing field for the private sector in defence manufacturing,

Encouraging the private sector to take advantage of the ''defence offset policy'', minister of sate for defence M Pallam Raju said at a seminar in New Delhi that foreign vendors in big-ticket defence deals were free to choose an Indian partner of their choice.

The seminar, on the theme ''defence offset policy: Opportunities for Indian IT and electronics industry, was orgainsed jointly by the Defence Offset Facilitation Agency (DOFA) and CII, for over a hundred entrepreneurs.

The minister also released a book, Indian Defence Procurement Opportunities A Guide, written by Major-General Bhupinder Verma to aide entrepreneurs on defence procurement systems.

The union budget for the year ending March 2008, has an allocation of nearly Rs42,000 crores (over $10 billion) for acquiring of weapons, systems and equipment.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates India will spend about $45 billion in arms purchases, making it amongst the most attractive defence markets in the world.

These purchases are expected to yield benefits of around Rs10,000 crore to Indian industry as a result of the new offset policy, as spelled out in the ''defence procurement procedure, 2006'', aimed at building export oriented indigenous capabilities for the global defence industry.

Interacting with entrepreneurs, P K Rastogi, additional secretary (department of defence production), defence ministry, said that exports by just a couple of defence PSUs were still a small fraction of the country''s huge defence budget of Rs96,000 crore rupee. Rastogi pointed out that so far only 37 licenses had been granted.

The DOFA was set up by the defence ministry in September last year to act as bridge between Indian defence industry and potential vendors. It also helps private industry obtain industrial license for manufacture of defence products from the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP).