PM Modi Sets Challenging Target For India's Defense Manufacturing Sector

By siliconindia | Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 10:40 Hrs

The Prime Minister said that effort is on to expand the role of private sector, even for major platforms. "Our goal is to provide a level playing field for all. We speak in terms of national capacity, not public sector or private sector," he said. The Prime Minister told the participating overseas delegations that for too many of them India is a major business opportunity with the reputation as the largest importer of defense equipment in the world.

"That may be music to the ears of some of you here but this is one area where we would not like to be number one," Modi said at the biennial event, being attended by more than 250 Indian companies and 300 foreign firms.
Ruing that India spends "tens of billions of dollars on acquisitions from abroad", Modi said government's focus is to reduce imports and develop domestic defense industry with a sense of mission which "is at the heart of our Make in India programme".

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that India will emerge as a major global centre for defense industry. Modi said a strong defense industry would not only make the country more secure but also make it more prosperous. "We must ensure that our tax system does not discriminate against domestic manufacture in comparison to imports," he said at Asia's premier air show at the IAF Yelahanka air base on the city outskirts.

Modi pointed out that in India, the defense industry in the government sector alone employs nearly 200,000 workers and thousands of engineers and scientists. They produce an output of nearly $ 7 billion dollars annually and also supports a very large pool of small and medium enterprises, he said. Noting that India imports up to 60 per cent in defense sector, he said there are studies that show that even a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in imports could directly create an additional 100,000 to 120,000 highly skilled jobs in India.

Source: PTI