Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates Aeroindia 2019

This edition of Aero India combines the defence and civil aviation segments into a holistic event. More than 600 Indian companies and 200 foreign companies are participating and witnessing the largest Air show of Asia.

During her inaugural address Sitharaman said that lately India had established itself as the hub of manufacturing and export of various world class avionics equipment and she added that the country now had the potential for “Nose to tail production”.

She hailed the “Make in India” initiative of the Government that had provided the impetus for increased self-reliance in defence and stressed on the need for instituting provisions for creating the ecosystem for utilisation and consolidation of design and manufacturing facilities to create a ‘robust supply chain system’.

Talking about defence procurements, the minister added that during the last four years, 150 contracts worth Rs 1,27,500 Cr had been signed with Indian vendors for procurement of defence equipment for the Armed forces.

She also mentioned that the Government had accorded AoN to 164 proposals worth Rs 2,79,950 Cr under ‘Buy and Make” categories only to the Indian vendors.

She also mentioned that the VoP in respect of OFB and DPSUs had grown from 43,746 Cr in 2013-14 to Rs 58,163 Cr in 2017-18, out of which 40% of the production had been outsourced to the Private Sector and that the Government had also issued RFP for the manufacture of seven identified types of ammunition in private sector.

During her address, Sitharaman hailed several policy initiatives of the Government under the ‘Make in India’ viz. 100% FDI in Defence Manufacturing, Defence Offset Policy 2016, Delicensing of Defence items, iDEX and the Defence Investor’s cell.

She quoted S 92 Helicopter cabin, Advance Aircraft Cockpit, Glass Cockpit for Dornier and CH-47 Pylon for Boeing as some recent successes displayed at the Indian Pavilion. She also hailed Indian PSUs for manufacturing more than 4000 aircraft including LCA, LCH, ALH, C295 etc.

She applauded the 10,000 MSMEs which made 80% of components, aggregates and assemblies of complex weapon systems and aircrafts.

The minister told that 34 projects relating to Army, Navy and Air Force had already been accorded ‘Approval in Principle’ under the ‘Make-II’ category. She mentioned that the FDI policy had been revised and now foreign investments upto 49% were allowed through the automatic route and above 49% under Government route.

She also mentioned that in last four years, six companies in Defence and Aerospace sectors had obtained government approval for FDI of Rs 237 Cr while FDI of over Rs 200 Cr had been received through the automatic route.

Sitharaman further stated that the government was committed to create an enabling environment for a domestic ecosystem of defence manufacturing, the results of which were already visible.

She said, “With the policy initiatives and the procedural reforms, I am confident that India will emerge as a key player in the global defence arena. We will create an ecosystem in which there would be enhanced technological collaborations of the public as well as private sectors with the foreign Defence OEMs. Strategic partnerships will be forged with increased integration of skills, systems, technologies and manufacturing capabilities.”