Commitment of Indian government to “Make in India”
India’s Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited DefExpo this morning. His visit holds much significance as it highlights the commitment of the government towards the ‘Make in India’ programme. Even the theme of the DefExpo 2018 is to showcase the Defence Manufacturing capability within the country.
One entire hall at DefExpo houses the public and private defence manufacturers in India including the Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO, Ordnance Factory, and host of Defence Public Sector Units, DPSUs including HAL BDL BEL etc.With a huge list of Defence procurement lined up including the for 110 fighter aircraft, big calibre artillery guns for Indian Army and a variety of ships including submarines for the Indian Navy.
The Prime Minister reaffirmed the urgency to equip the defence forces adequately. He assured that the procurement of fighter aircraft would happen sooner than later.
He also lamented inaction and policy paralysis during the previous regime resulting in a huge gap in the defence capability build up. He cited the creation of Defence Industrial Corridor in the states of Tamilnadu and Uttar Pradesh as a step in the direction to boost manufacturing within the country. He also said that steps have been taken to encourage innovation. “Today we launched the IDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence), which will set up a defence innovation hub throughout the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister addressed a special gathering of the participants’ organizers, industries associations, Tamilnadu government officials, and the media. The three service chiefs of India, a large number of foreign delegations and representatives of other countries and senior officials from the ministry of defence attended the Prime Minister’s address.
Gp Capt. (Ret.) Sundeep Mehta