Congress policy paralysis hit our defence: PM Modi

Chennai: Taking a veiled dig at the erstwhile Congress regime for 'inordinately' delaying defence procurement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that defence preparedness had been hampered by policy paralysis in the past.

Formally inaugurating IDEX (Innovation for Defence Excellence) at the sidelines of DefExpo 2018 in Chennai on Thursday, Modi added that the country had seen the damage caused by laziness and incompetence.

Reiterating that his government had resolved the issues that had not been addressed by previous governments, he said, "The country would have seen how the issue of providing bullet-proof jackets to Indian Army soldiers was kept hanging for years".

Explaining to national and international delegations about the bold actions taken to meet the immediate critical requirements of the country, the Prime Minister added that the present government had initiated a new process to procure 110 fighter aircraft. "We do not want to spend 10 years in discussions without tangible outcomes," he said.

Speaking about 'Innovation for Defence Excellence', Modi assured that the move would help set up Defence Innovation Hubs throughout the country to provide necessary incubation and infrastructure supports for start-ups. "Private venture capital into defence sector, especially for start-ups will also be encouraged," he assured.

The PM also emphasised the need for new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Artificial Intelligence and Robotics the most important determinants of defensive and offensive capabilities for any defence force in the future. India, with its leadership in Information Technology domain, would strive to use this technology tilt to its advantage," he predicted.

The government is committed to building a defence industrial complex with an inclusiveness of the public sector, private sector and foreign firms. "Two defence corridors in the city will increase the economic development and growth of defence industrial base. We have also established a Defence Investors Cell to assist and handhold the investors involved in defence production," he said.
Lauding the small and medium scale sector's contribution to defence production, PM Modi said that defence production by the SMEs has grown by 200 percent in the past 4 years. "Procurement from SMEs by the defence public sector undertakings and ordnance factories has gone up from about Rs 3,300 crores in 2014-15 to over Rs 4,250 crores in 2016-17. This is an increase of close to 30 percent," he pointed out.

While explaining the policy in ensuring ease of doing business, Modi pointed out that the government, apart from issuing defence manufacturing licences, had taken many steps in defence offsets, defence export clearances, FDI in defence manufacturing and on reforming defence procurement. 

"Regulations, processes and procedures have been made more industry-friendly, more transparent, more predictable and more outcome oriented. We have removed many entry barriers for the industry, especially for the small and medium enterprises." Initial validity of Industrial License has been increased from 3 years to 15 years, with provision to further extend it by 3 years," he said.