'Pvt sector should play a bigger role to meet defence r'ments'

The private sector should play a 'bigger role' to meet the requirements of armed forces, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command Vice Admiral Satish Soni, said here today.
"We would like the private sector to play a bigger role to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces. We are aware that development in the field of defence systems is inherently technology intensive and requires substantial investment of time and resources', he said speaking at the inaugural session of a Naval seminar.
The seminar is being held as part of NAMEXPO, a five-day premier Naval and Maritime Exposition being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), along with the Navy, Kerala Government and Ministries of MSME and shipping.

NAMEXPO aims to explore the business opportunities for the industry in the Indian naval and maritime sector, besides showcasing existing capabilities of the industry to end users.
Soni said there is large space for private Industry and DPSUs to co-exist in the scope of infrastructural development, weapon and sensors and logistics in the defence sector.
The Vice Admiral said the importance of strengthening the indigenisation efforts is obvious from the numerous steps taken by the government by way of amendments to the DPP in the revised version of 2013.

"These changes clearly emphasise the development of home grown technologies rather than import dominated procurements which have been in vogue," he said.

Indigenous firms have been given priority in procurements through the provisions of 'Buy Indian' and 'Buy & Make Indian' clauses. 'Buy Global' is to be resorted as the last option with due justification.
Soni said that if defence corporates want to be global competitors, they must be ready to invest in Research and Development and strive to produce state-of-the-art equipment.
"Currently in India,it is Defence Research and Development Organisation which has the responsibility towards R&D in niche defence technologies and our investments are very modest."
Even smaller countries like Israel and South Korea spend larger percentages of their GDPs on R&D, he said.

In developed countries, the private sector contributes a major share of total R&D funding. The Vice Admiral suggested that industrial houses, like their western counterparts,invest more in defence R&D, especially high-end areas.