Commerce stint may help Nirmala Sitharaman in defence deals

NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitharaman’s earlier stint in the commerce ministry is likely to be of immense help to the new defence minister when she deals with major defence procurement policies. Also, her experience in handling India’s international trade may go a long way towards enhancing defence ties with foreign countries.

The Defence Procurement Procedure and its chapter, the Strategic Partnership model — which aims to indigenise defence equipment for the armed forces through the Make in India route — are likely to get a leg up.

Make in India in defence is still to take off in a big way. “What she will have to look at is compressing the time taken between the issuing of a request for information for an equipment to the handing over of a contract. It takes about six years for this process to end and during that period we make huge investments, including in the trials,” explained a top industry executive.


Another industry executives said there is no level playing field because defence PSUs are usually the ones who are handed over contracts by the ministry. Also, the Project 75-I submarine and two naval helicopter programs of the Indian Navy will take close to 18 months to materialise.

Finding solutions to such issues will be of utmost importance to Sitharaman because it will definitely benefit the forces who are currently facing shortage of critical equipment. In this regard, an increase in the defence budget is a must. The Army, for instance, is facing a shortage of important ammunition for most of its guns.

For years, Army doesn’t have a mainstay rifle, which will be a replacement of the error-ridden INSAS rifle. Similarly, IAF needs its share of fighter jets to replace the ageing ones. The Navy too is looking at strengthening its submarine fleet.

In view of the Dokalam standoff with China and it ambitious ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, Sitharaman will have to understand what strategy to apply in this regard. The same applies to Pakistan given its involvement in cross-border terror attacks in J&K.

“Her biggest challenge will be to understand the concept and structure of the defence forces,” says a government official. “Similarly, she will have to understand the problems involved in modernisation, counter-terrorism, troop deployment along the two most important borders, jointness between the forces, etc,” said the official.