Government clears 33 defence manufacturing projects

In a bid to boost domestic defence manufacturing, the commerce ministry Tuesday said it has cleared 33 proposals in the sector.

According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), it has cleared all 33 proposals last week.

Of the 33 proposals, 19 are of Reliance Aerospace Technologies, Bharat Forge, Mahindra Telephonic Integrated Systems, Punj Lloyd Industries, Mahindra Aero Structure and Tata Advanced Materials and others.

DIPP said that 14 pending defence applicants do not require any further permission to commence operations as a vast number of defence items have been delicensed.

"It is expected that clearance of these 33 applications and the deregulation of defence product list, excluding a large number of components from purview of industrial licensing, will provide a major impetus to advanced manufacturing in defence sector," DIPP said in a statement.

In August, the central government through notification raised the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the defence sector to 49 percent.

A meeting of the cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Aug 6 decided to hike the cap in the defence sector in a move that can help India curb its import bill on military hardware.

India sources 70-75 percent of such hardware from abroad and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech, had said the government was committed to allowing higher foreign equity in the sector.