The Minister of State for Defence M.M.Pallam Raju has stated in the Parliament that since 2009-2010, the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) have exported products worth nearly $ 4.03 billion (Rs 1,815 crore) to over 50 countries including the US, UK, China, and Israel amongst others. The Minister has stated that the state-run Defence units are continually progressing in terms of exports.
Minister of State (Defence) M.M.Pallam Raju has tabled a report in the Parliament which describes the value of material exported by nine the DPSUs to a total of 53 countries. The total export value generated by the DPSUs stood at Rs 1,81,487 lakh.
While Defence products from the Indian DPSUs were exported to major countries like UK, Canada, China, Israel, Germany and France, the countries from the sub-continent like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka also got a share of Indian Defence products. The largest chunk of the export was done by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which sold material worth Rs 78,306 lakh.
The Minister of State Pallam Raju also added that in order to supplement the existing guidelines of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), the government has issued additional guidelines on detailed procedures for establishing joint ventures with private sector firms by the DPSUs in February this year. Security concerns were taken into consideration before allowing such JVs. The guidelines provide that DPSUs should sign a suitable Non-Disclosure Agreement with prospective partner(s) before sharing any confidential information.
Only last month, the Indian DPSUs were dictated by Defence Minister AK Antony to keep their engagements with their clients and stake-holders clear of any dubious transactions. In fact, a meeting with the eight chiefs of DPSUs to review their performance and functioning at the Defence ministry also took place to assess their projects and growth.
India has been aiming at self-reliance in the Defence sector for a long time and the ushering of the new Defence production policy in January 2011 has been a step in that direction. In order to produce advanced Defence products, the procurement policy allows means such as formation of consortia, joint ventures and public-private partnerships within the Government-approved framework. |