New Delhi: Foreign procurement by Defence Services has been "progressively decreasing" since 2018-19, Ajay Bhatt, Minister of State, Defence said in Rajya Sabha on Monday. He also said that while in 2018 foreign procurement was 48.68 per cent of the Central Acquisition head for the modernisation of the Defence Services, in 2021-22, up to December 2021, it has come down to 39.44 per cent.
According to data statistics presented by the Minister in 2018-19 foreign procurement worth Rs. 36,957 crore was done and it came down to Rs.29,658.14 crore in December 2021.
"From the above table, it may be observed that component of the Foreign Procurements under this head has been progressively decreasing since 2018-19," stated Bhatt in a written reply.
He further stated that the Government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years under the ‘Make in India’ Program aimed at reducing dependence on imports in future. He also said that reforms have been introduced to encourage indigenous designs, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country.
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"Further, Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 and other policy initiatives have focused on boosting indigenous defence capability, reducing reliance on imports and promoting Atma Nirbhar Bharat. These initiatives, inter-alia, include according to priority to the procurement of capital items from domestic sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020," added Bhatt.
According to statistics presented by Bhatt, the total annual turnover with regard to indigenous production of defence and aerospace-related items has gone up from Rs.74054 crore in 2016-17 to Rs. 84643 crore in 2020-21.
