More than 24 defence companies have joined hands to form a new industry association which is focussed on indigenous design and development. This is mainly due to the new procurement policy of the government which promotes domestic R&D with special incentives.
The Indian Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar is currently finalising the new procurement policy slated to be released in March. He will be speaking on self-reliance in defence via design and development at the first event of the new association on Thursday, 25 February.
The association comprises of smaller companies which have been in this sector for many years and have a functioning research department. The companies forming the group are Centum electronics, Kineco Private Ltd, Avantel Ltd and Zen Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Although industry associations which include FICCI and CII have strong defence departments focussing on the sector, the Defence Interaction Intelligence Agency (DIIA) is going to be the first to have an exclusive focus on indigenous R&D. According to DIIA’s chairman, Ashok Atluri, there has always been a focus on how components or equipment can be manufactured in India. DIIA is going to interact with the government for ensuring a policy that motivates design and development of defence equipment along with IP ownership in DIIA’s hands.
