PMO to review progress made under Make in India scheme in defence sector

The Narendra Modi government that launched the very ambitious Make in India programme, is not set to review progress made under it in the defence sector.

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picture for representation. (Photo: Reuters)

Almost three years after the Narendra Modi government called for promoting Make in India in the defence sector, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is planning to review the progress made in the project with several schemes such as infantry combat vehicles, submarines and fighter aircraft already been initiated by the defence ministry.

"The PMO is planning to review the progress made in the Make in India scheme with all stakeholders, including officials from the defence ministry and department of defence production," a government source told Mail Today.

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Sources said the focus of the meet would be on ongoing and long-pending projects under the Make in India category, which have been stalled or slowed down due to different issues, and ways on which they can be pushed towards completion at a faster rate.

The meeting will give special focus on armoured vehicles to be provided to the Indian Army , which has been working on its futuristic infantry combat vehicle project for over a decade now. Efforts are being made to revive the project where big industrial players, including Tatas and L&T are in the fray, along with the state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

The meeting is also likely to discuss the strategic partnership policy that was announced this year and also suggest new additions to it. The defence ministry has brought the manufacturing of submarines, helicopters, fighter aircraft and armoured vehicles and tanks under the project for promoting local military industry indigenously for complex weapon systems and platforms.

While former defence minister Arun Jaitley had decided in favour of indigenous Akash surface-to-air missiles over systems offered by foreign vendors, new minister Nirmala Sitharaman decided to try DRDO developed light machine guns when the case was stuck due to a single vendor situation after trials.

The government is also moving fast on the Air Force's project to manufacture 114 single-engine Made in India jets under the strategic partnership policy where Indian companies would tie up with American or Swedish firms to build the planes in India.