Announcement Of Ban On Import Of 101 Defence Apparatus

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THE PROBLEM

For years India has been among the top three defence importers in the world, the government wants to reduce the dependence on imported items in defence and give a shot in the arm to the domestic defence manufacturing industry.
Estimates suggest the Indian armed forces could spend about $130 billion to procure defence equipment in the next five years.

As per Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks defence exports and imports globally, India has been the second largest importer between 2014 and 2019 with US$ 16.75 billion worth of imports during this period.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday announced a list of 101 items that the Defence Ministry will stop importing. It essentially means that the Armed Forces—Army, Navy and Air Force—will only procure all of these 101 items from domestic manufacturers. The manufacturers could be private sector players or defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).

Singh said that the “embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2025” and the government wants to “apprise the Indian defence industry about the anticipated requirements of the Armed Forces so that they are better prepared to realise the goal of indigenisation”.

He added that the list is likely to grow as “more such equipment for import embargo would be identified progressively” by the Department of Military Affairs headed by the Chief of Defence Staff after consulting all stakeholders. “A due note of this will also be made in the DAP (Defence Acquisition Procedure) to ensure that no item in the negative list is processed for import in the future”.

“Modi govt’s decision of import embargo on 101 items and a separate budget for domestic capital procurement of nearly
Rs 52,000 crore for the current financial year will surely provide a major boost to the indigenous defence sector. I thank PM @NarendraModi & RM @RajnathSingh for this historic decision,” the home minister tweeted on Sunday evening.
He also said the move to ban the import of 101 items would open up new avenues for the Indian defence sector as contracts worth Rs 4,00,000 crore would be given to defence equipment manufacturers.

The embargoed list includes artillery guns, missile destroyers,ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, light transport aircraft, long-range land attack cruise missiles, communication satellites, basic trainer aircraft, multi-barrel rocket launchers, a variety of radars, assault rifles, sniper rifles, mini UAVs and different types of ammunition. The statement also indicates when the embargo kicks in for different items —between 2020 and 2025.

Modern field artillery can also be split into two other subcategories: towed and self-propelled. As the name suggests, towed artillery has a prime mover, usually an artillery tractor or truck, to move the piece, crew, and ammunition around.