Antony Calls for Aggressive Indigenisation in Defence Production

By Staff
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New Delhi, July 16 (UNI) Defence Minister A K Antony today called upon the Defence PSUs -- as also the Private Sector -- to go in for ''aggressive indigenisation'' in defence production in view of foreign vendor supplies often suffering delays.

Addressing the Defence Ministry Consultative Committee Meeting on Defence Shipyards here, the Minister stressed the need for increased investment by both public and private sectors on Research and Development to achieve the desired goal of self-reliance in defence production.

Minister Antony further pointed to the delays often suffered in supplies from foreign vendors -- which sometimes happened due to change in policy -- to stress the need for indigenisation in the defence production sector.

''Sometimes we find that the quality of imported equipment is also not up to the mark....'' But -- while advocating enhanced cooperation between the Public and Private Sectors in Defence industry -- the Minister cautioned that this would not be done at the cost of Defence Public Sector Undertakings.

The Defence Minister also directed the officials in his Ministry to explore the possibility of setting up an institution to cater to the design needs of the Armed Forces related to ships, submarines, aircraft and other equipment.

''I must also state that the design capabilities of Indian Defence Shipyards leave much to be desired... One of the major challenges facing the shipyards is the lack of design capabilities....'' Minister Antony said the country's shipyards and the Indian Navy should undertake immediate measures to upgrade their design house or tie-up with well-known global majors.

The Defence shipyards constituted an important element of India's indigenous Defence production capabilities, the Defence Minister said further informing the Consultative Committee Members that the total value of production of the three Defence shipyards during 2005-06 was Rs 1,430.33 crore -- which rose to Rs 2,557.51 crore during 2006-07. Pointing out that -- unlike other DPSUs -- the Defence shipyards shared a very close relationship with their customer namely the Indian Navy, the Minister said the Navy had prepared a Maritime Perspective Plan outlining the total requirement of ships, submarines and the like upto 2022.

The Minister further informed the Members that the three shipyards -- Mazagaon Dock Limited, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd and Goa Shipyard Ltd -- were all 'Miniratna category I' showing consistent profits during the last three years. And today their respective 'Order-book' position was comfortable, he said.

''The shipyards have embarked on major modernisation projects and their focus is on reducing build-times and keeping abreast of various technological developments in shipbuilding.... Thus, in future a holistic approach on shipbuilding is proposed to be followed by the shipyards.'' The Committee Members, while appreciating the performance of the three shipyards, made various suggestions to further improve their working. Several were of the view that the shipyards should seriously look into the problem of time and cost overrun.

A member suggested that -- instead of going for outsourcing -- the shipyards try to develop required capabilities indigenously. A suggestion was also made to send the engineers and technicians from these shipyards abroad for higher training instead of going for outsourcing.

Yet another Member suggested the need for benchmarking the products for shipyards so that it could be compared with the best in the world. Another suggestion related to enhancing the salary structure of technicians in the shipyards to prevent them from quitting their jobs in large numbers. A Member also urged thet Government to explore the possibility of securing orders for these shipyards from abroad.

Earlier, Additional Secretary-Defence Production PK Rastogi gave a detailed presentation on the three shipyards.

The Members of Parliament attending the meeting were Messrs Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Suresh Kalmadi, Naveen Jindal, MA Kharabela Swain, Samik Lahiri, A Shivajirao Patil, Sanjay Dhotre, Shankhlal Majhi, Madhur Goud Yaskhi, M Shivanna and Rameshwar Oraon, besides Ms Jayaben B Thakkar from the Lok Sabha.

Rajya Sabha Members who attended were Messrs Robert Kharshiing, Santosh Bagrodia, Syed Azeez Pasha, Vinay Katiyar, Dharam Pal Sabharwal and PR Rajan.

Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh, Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt, Secretary-Defence Production KP Singh, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister M Natrajan, and Director General Acquisition S Banerjee, besides various senior civil and military officials also attended the meeting.

UNI

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