The Department of Defence Production under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, had published the draft Defence Production Policy, 2018 (draft policy) on 22nd March, 2018.
The draft policy is available here. Our detailed comments on the draft policy are available here.
In brief, our submissions were:
- Unmanned aerial vehicles should be included in the list of weapons systems/platforms that should be indigenously developed to reduce dependence on imports.
- Regulatory sandboxes be setup to encourage domestic design and manufacturing activities and for exploring potential of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence ithe n the defence sector.
- Permit use of defence testing facilities and laboratories by private enterprises on payment of stipulated fees.
- Create manufacturing clusters for private defence industry.
- Liberalization of licensing requirements for defence industries; we suggest an independent mechanism for licensing system of items with commercial applications (dual use items). Alternately, terms and conditions for issue of licenses for such dual use items may be reconsidered and rationalised. Commercial applications should be recognised and de-licensed, or licensed differently with fewer restrictions.
- Indian manufacturers have to comply with separate policies for export and import of goods by independent ministries and departments. Review of rules for import and export of goods is recommended to ensure level playing field for Indian manufacturers.