Parliamentary panel compliments defence ministry for 'synergised efforts' to ensure self-reliance in military equipment

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

parliamentary panel on Thursday complimented the defence ministry for its "synergised efforts" to realise the objective of ensuring self-reliance in military hardware. The Standing Committee on Defence also noted that the expenditure on procurement from domestic sources has witnessed an increasing trend since 2018-19. The percentage of procurement from domestic defence manufacturers stood at 63.6 per cent in 2020-21 as against 54 per cent in 2018-19, the panel said in a report tabled in Parliament.

Referring to the gap between projects of budgetary allocations and actual outlay in the defence budget, it recommended formulation of a method for pragmatic budgetary projections. The committee observed that the tendency for greater projections in anticipation of higher allocation of funds at revised estimates stage is not desirable. «The committee is happy to note that synergised efforts are being taken for realisation of the objective of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India) in defence sectors,» the report said.

The committee, headed by Jual Oram, expressed happiness over efforts undertaken to take up indigenisation of equipment for future projects. The report said the committee has been apprised that there are some critical components that are not indigenously produced for various unavoidable reasons. «In this regard, the committee hopes that the indigenisation cell constituted in defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) will be able to successfully indigenize some of the critical equipment/items required for warships and submarines,» it said.