Defence stocks in focus; gain up to 6% on bourses

Bucking an overall weak broader market trend, defence stocks were in focus today, rising by up to 6 per cent, after the new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), focusing on India-made products and fast-tracked acquisition process, was cleared.
Shares of Reliance Defence and Engineering gained 5.82 per cent, Astra Microwave Products rose by 5.48 per cent, BEML (4 per cent) and Bharat Electronics (2.1 per cent) on BSE.
After a delay of several months, the new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), focusing on India-made products and fast-tracked acquisition process, was yesterday cleared by the top committee of the Defence Ministry.
"The DAC has given the final nod to the new DPP. We expect that the new DPP will be loaded on to our website on March 28. It will be effective from April 2," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said.

Many aspects of the DPP was already cleared by the DAC in February. This included a new category to acquire weapons - IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured).
The new DPP also allows the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) to take a "fast-track" route to acquire weapons, something which was limited to only the armed forces till now.