Defence procurement procedure should be more friendly, says Parrikar

Bengaluru: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today conceded that the current defence acquisition process is complex and said it should be more friendly. “I agree that current procedure is very complex….I really appreciate those who are still in that toughness to go through the process of defence acquisition,” Parrikar said.[caption id=“attachment_2092219” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. [/caption] Speaking at the interactive session on ‘Leveraging Defence Offsets for Make in India’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry in Bengaluru, he said “…I think these are issues of concern, the defence procurement procedure (DPP) can be more friendly…it has to be.” “There has to be a defined time frame for everything and not only setting defined time frame - that defined time frame should be followed, any deviation should be an exception…,” he said. Baba N Kalyani, chairman of CII’s National Committee on Defence and chairman Bharat Forge, said, “We really do not need any further changes in this offsets, because we have been talking for the last two to three years on offsets and keep making little little changes but less of implementation. We really need implementation and action.” On Kalyani’s call for implementation and action, Parrikar said, “I for one am a strong believer of this line. I think we have had enough interactions, I have enough data with me. Whether it is offset policy or Make in India or whether it is DPP- probably 80 to 90 percent of the problems are understood….it is high time that the valuable inputs are put into operation.” He said that his nature of function is “not making speeches, but delivering”. Stating that the “Make in India” concept as it stands today talks only of a platform, Parrikar said, “I don’t understand why only platforms. The big equipment definitely has to be there and that can be also identified in the list of items which we need to develop in India whether through technology transfer or through research and development.” He said Small and Medium-sized Enterprises participation in Make in India is absolutely essential. PTI