CII Defence Connect 2021: Looking East & North East – Bridging the Gap

CII in partnership with the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence organized a Virtual Conference on “Defence Connect – Bridging the Gap” on 11th March 2020 with an objective to revive the East Region as a manufacturing hub for defence production, beyond its past glory by also integrating the North Eastern States, into the Defence ecosystem.

At the outset of the event, Tribhuvan Darbari Chairman CII Aerospace & Defence Subcommittee (ER) & Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Texmaco Defence Systems Private Limited (TDSPL) & Chief Executive, Texmaco Rail & Engineering Limited addressed the event. Prominent leaders of the industry Mr Sanjay Jaju, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Defence Production Ministry of Defence, Government of India,    Mr Pabitra Khound IAS, Commissioner & Secretary, Department of Industry & Commerce, Government of Assam, Mr Debojyoti Dutta Secretary to Government of Assam Department of Act East Policy Affairs , RAdm V K Saxena, Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE Ltd, Dr  S K Jha, CMD, Midhani, Mr. M R Subhlok, Member, Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Mr Jayant D Patil, President, SIDM & Whole-time Director & Senior Executive Vice President L&T’s Defence Business & L&T-NxT, Mr Hari Mohan, Former DGOF & Chairman Ordnance Factory Board (OFB),  Lt Gen R K Jagga, Former DG Mechanised Forces were also present at the event with various SME participating from across the East & North East Region.

In his opening remarks, Tribhuvan Darbari said, “Since the launch of the “Make in India” initiative of the Government of India, Defence Sector in India has seen numerous activities, evincing interest from Indian private industry as well as Foreign OEMs. While the Indian industry has steadily moved towards capacity building, MSME and Foreign OEMs have been participating in ‘Make in India’ projects in Defence with renewed vigour. Under the leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and Raksha Mantri, long pending and critical changes have been made to bring in ease of doing business in Defence procurement and in minimizing imports and encouraging indigenous manufacturing. Now the latest initiative of the Government of India i.e., “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, has brought in a new enthusiasm in the Defence sector. The sector has been witnessing a CAGR of 3.9% between 2016 and 2020.

Tribhuvan Darbari further talked about the latest version of ‘Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Procurement Manual 2020’ released by Hon’ble Minister of Defence Mr. Rajnath Singh on October 20, 2020, with an objective to encourage more participation from start-ups and micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Defence Research & Development (R&D) that will help India achieve ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ goal. TS Darbari said, “The recently released DAP (Defence Acquisition Procedure) introduced a slew of conceptual, structural, and procedural reforms in the acquisition procedure to create a climate in which the industry can thrive while meeting the security and operational needs of the services. The DAP focuses on Ease of Doing Business to not only encourage Foreign Direct Investment but to also create self-reliance in indigenous products with a philosophy of “Make” “Design & “Develop” and “Strategic Partnership”. The policy has also facilitated import substitution through various schemes with an aim to reduce Life Cycle Cost and build a robust ecosystem based on domestic MSME.”