With India?s over-dependence on foreign vendors coming under sharp focus in the wake of the controversial VVIP chopper deal, the defence ministry has decided to invest R15,000 crore to scale up indigenous defence production over the next five years.
The ministry?s department of defence production said it increased the allocation from R583 crore during the 11th Plan period (2007-12) to R15,000 crore for the current Plan period to modernise the production capabilities of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).
?The OFB has an ambitious plan of modernisation, envisaging an investment of around Rs.15,000 crore during the 12th Plan period,? according to MoD’s annual report 2012-13. On the OFB’s plans and projects undertaken by it, the ministry said the list includes “upgunning of 130mm M46 field artillery guns to 155mm 45-calibre standard, development of 155mm 52-calibre mounted howitzers and integration of the 105mm field guns on the BMP combat vehicles.”
According to the report, for the development of the indigenous guns, it is planned to provide two 155mm 45-calibre guns to the Army by mid-April for field evaluation. The Indian Army has been deprived of even a single piece of new artillery after the Bofors scandal in the 1980s as due to one reason or the other, several tenders have been cancelled by the ministry.
A recent study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) pointed out that India has, in recent years, become the world’s largest recipient of arms, accounting for 10 % of global arms imports in the period 2007-11. In contrast, China, which was the largest recipient of arms between 2002 and 2006, fell to fourth place in 2007-11.
This is mainly because China has aggressively pursued indigenisation over the past couple of decades. As a result, most of its current defence budget, officially estimated at $119 billion for this year, will be spent on purchases from within the country. As such, a massive amount of money flows into its domestic military-industrial complex, which has a multiplier effect on R&D, employment generation and battlefield surprises for adversaries.
In contrast, India’s present efforts and systems are not up to the mark for creating a robust military-industrial complex. The vested interests of the defence public sector units (DPSUs), OFB and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) actually symbolise what is stopping India from creating such a thriving complex, even though the country has one of the world’s most dynamic manufacturing sectors.