DPrP 2018: Arms production targets are 'under-ambitious', says Ajay Kumar

Although Defence Production Policy-2018 aims to indigenize key weapon systems by 2025, Kumar accepted that arms import will continue, albeit on a reduced scale

The new Defence Production Policy of 2018 (DPrP-2018), which is nearing finalisation in the defence ministry, is not overly ambitious says Ajay Kumar, the Secretary for Defence Production (Secretary DP). If anything, the targets it sets are too modest, he says. 

Since March 30, the ministry has been evaluating several hundred responses that stakeholders submitted in response to the Draft DPrP-2018. Once that process is complete, the new policy will be notified, the defence ministry told Parliament on Monday. 

Several defence industry experts are sceptical about the Draft DPrP-2018’s stated goals. They include making India (currently the largest importer of weaponry) one