Indian armed forces should treat industry as a partner: Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said Friday that the Indian armed forces should treat industry as partner rather than vendor or supplier.

"Mutual trust between Indian Navy and industry is must for achieving higher levels of self-reliance without compromising with transparency, ' he said.

Parrikar also appreciated Indian Navy and CII for carrying out such exercises which create more synergy between users and industry.

He was speaking in a CII-Indian Navy Seminar on Innovation and Indigenisation: Sailing Towards Self-Reliance at Kothari Auditorium, DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi.

Admiral R K Dhowan, Chief of Naval Staff, said that "48 ships and submarines are under construction in various Indian public and private sector shipyards."

He further said Indian Navy is committed to achieve self-reliance with the active support of Indian industry.

Indian shipbuilding industry dates back to Indus Valley Civilisation. Therefore, Indian Navy has already achieved 90 per cent indigenisation in the "float" (hulls and vessels) category and around 60 percent in the "move" (propulsion).

The Indian Navy is taking steps to achieve higher degree of indigenous content / indigenisation in the "fight" (weapons) category. Therefore, there exists huge opportunities for the industry to participate in the move and fight category.

He further said that there is a need to harness cutting edge technologies to increase the indigenisation content in the future ship, submarines ad aircraft.

Vice Admiral A V Subhedar, Chief of Materials, said that "In pursuance of the Government of India's Make in India' thrust and achieving the Indian Navy's goal of self-reliance through indigenous development, steps are being taken in the direction of realising the dream of Make In India".

He also highlighted the need to have a greater involvement of industry in the indigenisation programmes of the Indian Navy.

Shubra Singh, Joint Secretary, DIPP, said that several industry friendly steps have been taken by the Government to ensure ease of doing business.

These steps include relaxation in FDI limit in defence, significant reduction in the list of industrial licenses, single window clearance, streamlining of defence exports and so on. Ms Singh also brought out the initiatives taken by various state Governments by offering comprehensive packages to attract defence manufacturers / investors to their respective states.

Sukaran Singh, Co-Chairman CII National Committee on Defence and Managing Director and CEO of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd said that defence manufacturing sector requires 18 million skilled workers.

To meet this target, CII, in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), is launching Strategic (Defence) Manufacturing Sector Skill Council. We would like to align SMSC with the recently signed MoD-Ministry of Skills and Entrepreneurship MoU. He also emphasised on the need of encouraging and incentivizing MSMEs and taking lessons from global best innovation and R&D models including Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAPRA).

Anil Ambani, Chairman Reliance Group said that defence manufacturing sector has witnessed paradigm shift and there is a need for everyone to channelize their energies towards achieving the common aim of self-reliance.

The seminar is spread over two days and is being attended by government officials, Captains from Ship building industry and members of Academia besides officers from the Indian Armed Forces.