Defence Procurement Policy, 2008 tomorrow

New Delhi, Jul 31 (UNI) Defence Minister A K Antony will unveil the latest Defence Procurement Policy, that will put defence procurements on a fast track, tomorrow.

The existing Policy, released in late 2006 lays down that 30 per cent or more of the value of a defense purchase has to be ploughed back into the country via a defence offset obligation from a foreign seller for a contract exceeding Rs three billion.

On July 9, the government had revised the defence procurement policy to ensure speedier purchases and make the Indian industry a beneficiary as India shops worldwide to strengthen its defence preparedness.

The DPP 2008 will govern purchases worth nearly USD 100 billion over the next decade.

The Defence Acquisition Council headed by the Defence Minister had cleared the DPP 2008 which includes provisions for increasing transparency.

The DPP will be operative from August 1 and incorporate the cumulative experience of the services and the Ministry of Defence over the last two years. In 2006, the government unveiled a new defence purchase policy to reduce delays and eliminate corruption in vendor selection. It had also promised to revisit the policy after two years.

The DPP 2008 would mark a significant departure from the existing process by including the concept of banking of offsets -- a company executing an order will be able to transfer the value of the work done in India to fulfil the offset requirements of another order.

UNI NAB AKJ HT2040