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New Delhi: Confronted with a raging controversy over the Rafale deal and more particularly questions raised by Congress President Rahul Gandhi in this regard as well as his latest jibe vis-a-vis Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd, the Key offset partner with Dessault Aviation for 36 Rafale Aircraft worth Rs. 30000 crore being acquired for the Indian Air Force, the Government of India told Parliament today that In the last four financial years i.e. from 2014-15 to 2017-18, 128 contracts worth Rs. 1190 billion (Rs.119000 Crore) have been signed with Indian vendors for capital procurement of defence equipment.

In the last four financial years – from 2014-15 to 2017-18, Government of India has also accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to 151 proposals, worth Rs. 2667 billion (Rs.2,66,700 Crore) approximately under ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’, ‘Buy (Indian)’, ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ or ‘Make’ categories of capital procurement as per Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), which implies that Request for Proposal (RFP) shall be issued only to Indian Vendors.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Manish Gupta in Rajya Sabha today )30 July 2018). He told the House that ‘Make in India’ in defence sector, is primarily driven by capital acquisition of defence equipment and other policy measures.

The Minister said in his reply that DPP stipulates a time schedule for completion of the procurement cycle. The time taken to undertake capital procurement of defence equipment depends on the nature and complexity of the equipment being procured. Nonetheless, under the DPP-2016 Government has laid down further provisions for ensuring swift decision making in defence procurement. In addition, all the procurement schemes are regularly reviewed and prioritized on the basis of critical operational needs of the Armed Forces.

In the Budget Speech 2018, the Government announced that it will bring out an industry friendly Defence Production Policy-2018 to promote domestic production by public sector, private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

A draft Defence Production Policy-2018 has been prepared which provides a focused, structured and significant thrust to development of defence design and production capabilities in the country. The draft policy has been shared with all concerned stakeholders for their views before its approval and final notification.