Why defence manufacturing fights an uphill battle

The defence sector is seeing renewed interest by Indian corporates

Defence manufacturing may have been the thrust area for the Make In India programme of the National Democratic Alliance government, but a closer look at the numbers suggest that the push point is yet to be reached. The government’s capital spending in the sector is expected to be just about Rs 75 crore more this year, over Rs 71,675 crore in 2015-16, indicating defence procurement has not really picked up.

It is not that policy initiatives are missing or delayed. In March 2016, the ministry of defence came out with the defence procurement procedure, which set a priority scale for