Draft defence policy aims at 'self-reliance'

New Delhi: The Ministry of Defence made several announcements under the 'Self-reliant India' package to include India among the world's leading countries in the defence sector, aerospace and naval shipbuilding sectors.

The Union government is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in defence manufacturing by 2025 as it has identified the sector as a potential driver to boost the overall economy, according to a draft of a major policy prepared by the Defence ministry.

The draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 set an export target of Rs 35,000 crore in aerospace and defence goods and services in the next five years, which has been estimated as part of the total projected turnover.

The policy is envisaged as overarching guiding document of the defence ministry to provide a "focused, structured and significant" thrust to production of military hardware and platforms for self-reliance and exports, officials said. Officials said the policy is aimed at developing a dynamic, robust and competitive defence industry, including aerospace and naval shipbuilding, to cater to the needs of the armed forces. In May, Union Finance Minster Nirmala Sitharaman rolled out a number of reform measures for the defence sector including making separate budgetary outlay to procure Indian-made military hardware, increasing FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent under the automatic route and generating a year-wise negative list of weapons which will not be allowed to import.

India is one of the most lucrative markets for global defence giants as it figured among top three importers of military hardware in the world for the last eight years.