Defence Orders Worth Rs 50,000 Cr May Be Announced By The Government Says Parrikar

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar stated his expectation of another Rs 50,000-60,000 crore worth of defence contracts to be signed during the remaining quarters of the financial year, making the total orders Rs 3 trillion since he took charge in 2014.

“During the past 23 months that I have been in charge, we have signed contracts worth Rs 2.2 trillion. Recently, we signed a letter of intent with a government-run shipyard for about Rs 32,000 crore, taking the total orders to Rs 2.5 trillion."

The Cabinet Committee on Security in August cleared a proposal to get Goa Shipyard build mine counter measure vessels for the Navy at an estimated cost of over Rs 32,000 crore. In answer to a question on the impact of the manufacturing push with private participation in the defence space, he said:

"The Make in India initiative has seen defence exports from Rs 500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore, though the ministry figures will show only Rs 2,100 crore. One reason for this is that export of aviation sector items are not included in this as it has been delicensed."

Parrikar also stated that the ministry is finalising a new strategic materials policy for promoting production as well as storage of defence-related strategic materials.