'Make in India' plan lacks clarity, admits Manohar Parrikar

BENGALURU: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday conceded that 'Make-In-India' lacks clarity and said the Centre was drawing up out a separate policy to flesh it out.

"The Defence Procurement Procedure, as a document, is also not well-articulated and there is a lot of confusion. Besides, everything does not need to be squeezed into it. So, we are planning a separate policy on Make-In-India," he said on the sidelines of the inauguration of Aero India 2015 here.

The separate policy is likely to be notified after budget in April-May to have clarity and the focus on providing level playing field to everybody -- the ordnance factory board, PSUs, import partners and domestic private industry.

Parrikar said among the projects under this banner, the government is open to manufacturing 338 helicopters (military and civil) and private industry will also be roped in.

"HAL needs to augment its production capability. Right now, it has the capacity to make 25-30 per year, but it has to be 50-100," he said.

The defence minister announced a policy on legalizing lobbyists or middlemen representing various arms manufacturers across the world will be ready in the next four to five weeks as part of easing up working with the government and defence manufacturers.

"The draft is ready, it will now need approval from the Defence Acquisition Committee, which is expected in the next meeting, and the process of giving it legal sanctity will follow."

Aero India 2015 earlier got off to a rocking start with clear skies and a clear-minded PM Narendra Modi making his intent of business more than apparent at the inaugural of the 10th edition of the event pegged to be the largest ever.

Metal band Metallica's song 'Unforgiven' was played as the cover for what turned out to be a Modi rockshow. A lot of changes were more than apparent with even the flypast not taking its traditional turn.

"We have the reputation as the largest importer of defence equipment in the world. That may be music to the ears for some of you here. But this is one area where we would not like to be number one," he said.

Modi underlined the need for India to have greater defence preparedness and modernize its forces to meet security challenges and international responsibility.

"So, as we look at these wonderful aircraft and enjoy the amazing flying, I also hope we can get some business done and sow the seeds of successful new ventures and partnerships - to give our people new opportunities, to make our nations safer, and the world more stable and peaceful."

He said India has to equip itself for the needs of the future, where technology will play a major role. "India has huge requirements on managing internal security and that the country is increasingly integrating technology and systems into it."

Modi said these opportunities make Aero India an important international event. "For me, it is not just a trade fair for defence equipment. This is a mega meeting of one of the largest global supply chains, with the most advanced technology and complex equipment," Modi said.

He said it can boost investment, expand manufacturing, support enterprise, raise the technology level and increase economic growth in the country.

The PM noted defence PSUs were not doing enough. "Nearly 60% of our defence equipment continues to be imported. Our private defence industry is still small and we are spending tens of billions of dollars on foreign acquisitions," he said.

"There are studies showing that even a 20% to 25% reduction in imports could directly create 1 lakh to 1.2 lakh highly skilled jobs."