Private sector defence production at Rs 16k cr: Rajnath

Addressing a round table conference of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of defence and aerospace companies here, Rajnath Singh further said that the cumulative production of all the defence industries in the country in 2018-19 was Rs 80,000 crore.

The conclave with the theme 'Make in India in the Defence Industry' was held in Vigyan Bhawan where Rajnath Singh also stressed upon the Central government's focus to strengthen the defence PSUs and the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

Rajnath Singh informed the CEOs that his ministry has set up an end-to-end offset processing portal through which proposals of $1.5 billion value were processed. Entry barriers for MSMEs were also reduced and this resulted in doubling of the defence licenses issued from 215 in 2014 to 440 in 2019, he said.

The Union Minister also said that the defence companies have huge opportunities in contributing to the domestic market in addition to exports.

He added that the strategic partnership model has been notified to establish defence manufacturing infrastructure and supply chain through which Indian companies could choose a partner via a competitive and transparent process.

Ajay Kumar, Secretary (defence production), said the round table conclave was organised to obtain views and suggestions from the industry.