Defence Ministry to streamline export procedures

The Ministry of Defence will soon introduce changes in the open general licence norms to boost exports out of India, said Sanjay Jaju, Joint Secretary, Defence Industries Production, here on Monday.

Authorities are working on two open general export licences and the entire process of seeking permissions will be reduced, he said while addressing a workshop organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), an industry body.

"We will create a system under which Indian exporters will have the opportunity to give self-declaration of their quarterly or yearly statements for a select group of countries," said Jaju.

"We are trying to come up with a solution where an open general export license for certain products to certain countries will be issued. Those companies which register under particular license can export these items and give us declaration over a quarter, or a month or a year, and maintain records at their own premises," he told ANI.

Jaju said India's defence exports increased from Rs 1,500 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 11,000 crore in 2018-19 with 90 per cent of the products as components.

"This is going to increase further during this year. Our industry is able to access international markets."

One-fourth of the turnover by defence public sector undertakings should come from exports.

"Out of one trillion dollar manufacturing economy in the next five years, 25 billion dollars must come from defence-related sectors. So we expect five billion dollars worth of defence exports each year," he said.