Defence Ministry okay proposal for industry-friendly reform related to AHSP

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal for bringing in industry-friendly reform related to Authority Holding Sealed Particulars (AHSP), officials said on Tuesday.

The AHSP is the authority which is responsible for generating, maintaining, updating or declaring obsolete the entire history and technical information of defence products.

Singh has approved a proposal for bringing in industry-friendly reform related to AHSP, the ministry said in a statement.

So far, the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) was the AHSP for majority of defence items designed, developed and manufactured by various DPSUs and private industries, it said.

"Under the existing procedure, certain bottlenecks were experienced by the industry to bring timely improvements in their products and technologies in line with changing times. Therefore, the ministry has decided now to liberalise the AHSP procedures and make it industry-friendly," the ministry said.

The Indian defence companies, which have developed products, systems, sub-systems, components on their own indigenous capabilities (except critical stores), will now be allowed to own and account for their final designs and specification as AHSP. In case of any change in the sealed particulars, a simplified mechanism representing all the stakeholders concerned, including the industry, will take a decision. The DGQA will notify the detailed procedure in this regard within two months, the statement said.

The DGQA has also been asked to examine all AHSPs with them and rationalise the entire list within two months. They have been, further, advised to transfer the AHSP to the industry at the earliest. It will be another significant step of the government to further encourage ease of doing business, it added.