'Tax holiday for defence equipment manufacturers can boost indigenisation'

A tax holiday for private defence equipment manufacturers would give a fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition of indigenisation of India's defence sector, a senior DRDO official said Friday.

"This (tax holiday) will help private industries. It will make their life easy (and help) to bring transparency and volume in business," said Satish Kumar, chief controller in-charge of research and development (technology management) at the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).

Kumar told IANS after his presentation at the Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan here that the DRDO had already identified a number of areas in which to take the prime minister's 'Make in India' forward.

"We have lot of opportunities through technology development. A number of technologies have been identified where we can work and develop together in the field of aeronautics, computer science and electronics," said Kumar, who has been associated with prestigious DRDO programmes like developing liquid propellant rocket engines for Prithvi and Agni missiles.

The sammelan is aimed at creating awareness about traditional indigenous sciences and linking it to more modern sciences.