Defence procurement policy being reviewed: Ministry

New Delhi: The government is reviewing the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) to address issues raised by the industry players and other stakeholders, a senior Defence Ministry official said here today. Addressing a conference on ‘Streamlining the Indian Defence Procurement System’, financial advisor to the defence ministry, Amit Cowshish, said the new revised DPP might address the issues of industry players as well. “I hope some of the issues the industry has raised may be addressed in the new DPP”, Cowshish said. The conference was organised by the international thinktank Observer Research Foundation (ORF). [caption id=“attachment_296180” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The government is reviewing the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) to address issues raised by the industry players and other stakeholders. Reuters”]  [/caption] The new DPP will look at broadening the scope of offsets and bringing Transfer of Technology under its ambit. Suggesting creation of a permanent professionals body to select right vendors, transparency and accountability in defence procurement, Cowshish admitted that a paradigm shift in the policy of defence acquisitions was necessary. “A paradigm shift is required to ensure that right vendors are selected in a transparent and accountable manner,” he said. MP Naveen Jindal, who is also a member of Parliament’s Consultative Committee on Defence, during his address admitted that delays in defence procurement has led to unutilised defence outlays worth more than Rs 8,000 crore, affecting modernisation of the armed forces. Underlining the need for modernisation of the ordnance factories, he said these facilities often work with obsolete designs. “We still produced rifles like INSAS while most of the major countries use much modern technologies which are available in the market. There is a world of difference. It is like using an Ambassador and a Mercedes (car). In the case of rifles, there is not much difference in the cost,” he said. PTI