Private participation to help India turn leader in defence tech: DRDO chief

"With disruptive technologies coming in," startups and SMEs are needed to contribute to innovation in defence. They have more flexibility than large public companies," said Kamat

Participation of the private sector in defence production and research and development (R&D) is essential for India to achieve self-reliance, as well as become a leader in technology, Samir V Kamat, chairman of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said on Thursday.   

  Addressing a panel discussion on ‘defence and the private sector – collaboration and coordination’ at the Business Standard’s 50th anniversary summit in New Delhi, Kamat said, if India has to meet its defence export targets, the only choice is to have private and public sectors work together.

  “With disruptive technologies coming in,” startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are needed to contribute to innovation in defence. They have more flexibility than large public companies.

  “Participation of the private sector has started increasing, and I am sure in the next few years, we will have an equal role of the private and public sectors and government organisations,” Kamat said.

  The panel was asked questions about what issues were coming in the way of greater private sector participation in defence.

  This comes at a time when India’s largest public sector company in defence, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, is seeing a production delay in delivering fighter jets to the Indian Air Force. 

Kamat’s co-panellist, R S Bhatia, chairman, Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd, said although the DRDO has partnered with the private sector for long, the country’s defence industry is yet to see a “level-playing field”. 

  He said defence procurement was a “secret document” in the past but now private companies are consulted in such a process.

  “We are not against the defence public sector undertakings (PSUs). This is more to do with the foreign-payment terms,” he said, adding that the biggest reform that the private sector would ask for is to “cut down” the acquisition process.

  Bhatia added, “The acquisition cycle cannot be longer than the technology-development cycles.”

  He also urged that “the silos” be broken when referring to how different organisations and divisions work in the sector.

  The third panellist, retired Admiral Hari Kumar, a former chief of the Indian Navy, highlighted the problem of funding for defence projects in the private sector. He also said funds that are provided through the relatively recent government programme for defence innovation are inadequate. 

He added that decisions should be made nimbly, so that the armed forces – the end users – get the best deal.

  “We need to make the defence-procurement process simpler,” Kumar said.

  Kamat said acquisition is a long process in India and that the Ministry of Defence has designated this year for reforms.

By the end of the year, the sector will have a “much faster acquisition cycle”. 

He added that when picking partners for projects, the DRDO treats public and private companies equally. “We are partnering with all large companies in India today,” he said.

  Kamat agreed with Bhatia that the “silos must be broken” and “We have to look at the whole-nation approach” rather than 

working only on the interest of a particular organisation. “We have to look at the bigger picture.”