By Staff Correspondent
The Indian Ministry of Defence, led by Rajnath Singh, has taken a significant stride towards strengthening domestic defence capabilities and reducing import dependence. The Ministry has greenlighted the 4th Positive Indigenisation List (PIL), consisting of 928 strategically important Line Replacement Units (LRUs)/Sub-systems/Spares and Components, as well as high-end materials and spares, with an import substitution value of approximately Rs 715 crore.
To ensure the effective execution of this indigenisation drive, the SRIJAN Portal has been set up, which offers comprehensive information on the PIL items. Moving forward, these items will only be procured from the Indian industry once they meet the timelines specified in the list.
This latest list builds on the success of the previous three PILs, which were released in December 2021, March 2022, and August 2022, respectively. These lists already include 2,500 items that have been indigenised, along with 1,238 (351+107+780) items that will be indigenised within the designated timelines. Currently, 310 items (1st PIL – 262, 2nd PIL – 11, 3rd PIL – 37) have been successfully indigenised.
The Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) will play a crucial role in the indigenisation process, implementing it via various routes under the ‘Make’ category and in-house development through MSMEs and private Indian industry capabilities. This approach will drive economic growth and lessen DPSUs’ import reliance. Furthermore, academia and research institutions will participate in this process to enhance the domestic defence industry’s design capabilities.
The DPSUs will soon commence procurement procedures for these notified items, and the industry can register their interest and participate in large numbers through the Srijan Portal Dashboard, purposefully designed for this objective. This initiative represents a major stride towards achieving the objective of ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence, strengthening domestic defence capabilities, and minimising imports.
