New Delhi: As part of the government’s move to encourage indigenous defence industry in keeping with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the Ministry of Defence will be soon coming with a second list of arms and ammunition that will be subjected to an import ban. It is expected to be released by the end of the year by using embargoes on imports.
“A comprehensive list is in the making and would be issued by the end of this year,” sources said. The list will have a large number of items and the three services are being consulted for preparation of arms and smaller items which can be produced and procured from within the country itself.
The first such list of 101 negative arms imports was issued by the Defence Ministry on August 9. This list included a large number of high-tech items including artillery guns, submarines and light-weight combat aircraft.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have reiterated time and again their objective to boost indigenous defence production and develop a robust military industry within India. This, they say, will not only contribute to economic growth but will also help in creation of jobs many of which are lost owing to placement of orders to foreign vendors.
A number of indigenous manufacturers continue to urge the Centre to implement measures aimed at improving the defence production ecosystem within India.
Earlier this year, concerned officials briefed the PM about the negative arms import list before the same was made public. This list introduced an import embargo on 101 items beyond a given timeline to boost indigenisation of defence production.
It is estimated that contracts worth almost Rs four lakh crore will be allocated to the domestic defence industry within the next six to seven years as a direct result of this measure.
