Public, private sector should work as competitors, not rivals: Antony

Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Monday said there is tremendous scope for both the public and private sectors to grow and play a meaningful role in manufacturing defence equipment and platforms for the armed forces.

Addressing a function at which RakshaMantri Awards for Excellence were presented, Antony said even if both the public and private sector work to their full potential, they would not be able to fulfil all the requirements of the three services in the near future.

Giving an overview of the defence manufacturing sector, Antony said the private sector is emerging at a rapid pace.

He said, though the public sector has been manufacturing advance weapon systems and platforms over the years, the pace and direction of the progress has left a lot to be desired.

"Our over dependence on imports has made us one of the largest importers of defence equipment in the world. Our public sector must own up large responsibility in realising our aspirations of self-reliance in the defence sector," he said.

Antony said: "Defence production in our country has been done mainly by the Ordnance Factory Board and Defence PSUs. However times are changing at a rapid pace. With the opening up of defence production for the private sector, several large industries have shown a keen interest invest and develop capabilities in defence production and assume the role of system integrators. The private sector and the public sector must work in tandem and look upon each other as healthy competitors, rather than rivals."

Antony urged ordnance factories and the defence PSUs to further enhance the quality of service to the defence forces.

Antony said: "The need of the hour is to develop the best of technologies and staying truly competitive to keep pace with the fast-paced technological changes. The public sector must make every possible effort to ensure that the products developed for our Armed Forces are not only cost-efficient and technologically competitive, but also strictly adhere to timelines."

He strongly emphasised the need for total transparency and integrity in all spheres of work. "It is important to remain fully committed and accountable to the correctness of our actions in our day-to day work."

Antony presented RakshaMantri's Awards for Excellence -2011-12 to institutions and individuals.

In all, eleven categories of awards were given.

The award for all round excellence for the year 2011-12 has been given to Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI). The award for best performance in Export has been given to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and the best performing Shipyard Award has been conferred upon Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. Kolkata. BEL has the distinction of winning five other awards for excellence in various other group/individual categories.

Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh, Secretary (Defence Production) G.C Pati, Chairman, OFB and CMDs of Defence PSUs H.S Choudhary.