Defence manufacturing policy to be overhauled

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government has begun making revisions to its Defence Manufacturing Policy 2016, as the extant policy did not attract the expected investments in the aerospace and defence manufacturing sector. The policy is to expire in 2025, but the government may announce a fresh policy in the next few months. To boost prospective investments in this sector, the Gujarat government is also looking to organize an event for the aerospace and defence manufacturing sector before the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) in January. “The projected investments under the existing policy have not come to the state. Most importantly, substantial big ticket investments have not taken place. In the absence of many OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), ancillary industries have also not grown substantially. Thus, the government is looking to revise its policy to strengthen defence manufacturing units in the state,” a source in the government said. Sources added that another factor for the relatively slow growth of the industry in the state is that VGGS has not been held for the past five years. The Defence Manufacturing Policy 2016 had envisaged attracting 10% of the value of orders of the defence sector in India in ten years. Sources in the government said that the additional secretary, defence production, was in the state last week and stakeholder meetings were arranged. “The state has excellent connectivity through ports, rail and road. There is also adequate land available. Feedback was sought from stakeholders on what changes could be made to the existing policy to make Gujarat a destination for the defence manufacturing sector,” a source said. Among the proposed changes that are being discussed are the setting up of defence clusters and thus a defence vendor base in the state. The state industries and mines department will chalk out a proposal to provide prototyping, testing and certification facilities for A&D (aerospace and defence) industries.