Aspiring for greater defence manufacturing within the country under the ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that the government encourages private investment in the sector and that there are vast opportunities in the field.
Speaking at an event here, the Minister assured that there won’t be any kind of restriction on manufacturing from the government’s end.
“I encourage the private sector to come in the defence sector because of the agility they have shown,” she said, noting that “they have identified the opportunity that exists in this area”.
“We prefer the Indian Designed & Developed Manufactured (IDDM) as the first priority. We have not excluded licensed manufacturing. There is going to be no restriction on any kind of manufacturing,” the Defence Minister added.
In total, she informed, there are total of 37 Defence licensing companies holding industrial licenses for manufacturing of arms, ammunition and explosives.
This number can grow, Sitharaman said.
In last four years, the country has attracted Rs 1.17 crore as FDI in the defence production sector under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
MoS for Defence Subhash Bhamre, in a written reply to Lok Sabha last week, told that FDI of amount USD 0.18 million has been received in the defence industry sector from April 2014 to December 2017.
At present, India is the world’s third largest buyer of arms and equipment.
