“Defense Production & Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020”

Focused, structured and significant thrust to defense production capabilities

• The Ministry of Defence (MOD) published a draft on ‘Defence Production &
  Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020’ for public feedback
• It is envisaged as an overarching guiding document to provide a focused,
  structured and significant thrust to defence production capabilities of the
  country for self-reliance and exports
• A Project Management Unit (PMU) will be set up for the development and
  production of technologies involved, life cycle costs and maintenance
  requirements of platforms, equipment and weapon systems

Goals and Objectives of DPEPP

• To achieve a turnover of Rs. 1,75,000 crore including export of Rs. 35,000 crore
  in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025
• To develop a dynamic, robust and competitive Defence industry, including
  Aerospace and Naval Shipbuilding industry to cater to the needs of Armed
  forces with quality products.
• To reduce dependence on imports and take forward “Make in India” initiatives
  through domestic design and development
• To promote the export of defence products and become part of the global
  defence value chains
• To create an environment that encourages research and development (R&D),
  rewards innovation, create Indian Intellectual Property (IP) ownership and
  promotes a robust and self-reliant defence industry

Proposed Reforms in Procurement

• A Project Management Unit (PMU) will be set up for the development and
  production of technologies involved, life cycle costs and maintenance
  requirements of platforms, equipment and weapon systems.
• It also aims to move away from licensed production to design, develop and
  produce indigenously.
• It also aims to own the design rights and IP of the systems projected in the Long
  Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) and a Technology Assessment Cell
  (TAC) would be created.
• The TAC would also assess the industrial capability for design, development
  and production, including re-engineering for production of major systems such
  as armored vehicles, submarines, fighter aircraft, helicopters and radars with
  the major industries in the country

Support to MSMEs or Startups and Optimization

• The indigenization policy aims to create an industry ecosystem to indigenise the
  imported components (including alloys and special materials) and subassemblies for defence equipment and platforms manufactured in India. 5,000
  such items are proposed to be indigenized by 2025
• More than 50 startups are currently developing new ‘fit-for-military-use’
  technologies or products
• The share of domestic procurement in overall Defence procurement is about
  60%
• To enhance procurement from domestic industry, the procurement needs to be
  doubled from the current Rs. 70,000 crore to Rs. 1,40,000 crore by 2025

Investment Promotion, Innovation and R&D

• India is already a large aerospace market with rising passenger traffic and
  increasing military expenditure, as a result of which the demand for aircraft
  (fixed and rotary wings) is rising
• The improvement in market size, demographic dividend and availability of
  diverse skill sets are evident from India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of
  Doing Business’ (EoDB) report
• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) has been in operation to provide
  necessary incubation and infrastructure support to the startups in the defence
  area
• iDEX would be further scaled up to engage with 300 more startups and develop
  60 new technologies or products during the next five years
• Self-reliance in defence manufacturing is a crucial component of effective
  defence capability and to maintain national sovereignty and achieve military
  superiority.
• The attainment of this will ensure strategic independence, cost-effective defence
  equipment and may lead to saving on defence import bill, which can
  subsequently finance the physical and social infrastructure

Pic courtesy : ddnews.gov.in