The Government of India is leaving no stone unturned to support its flagship ‘Make in India’ initiative. In recent years, the country has increased efforts to facilitate global investment in India and boost local manufacturing. One of the main areas of focus for indigenization has been the defense sector, as several policy initiatives and reforms to promote indigenous design and development have been launched under the able leadership of Prime Minister Modi. That is, reducing dependence on the import of defense equipment.
As part of this, the Ministry of Defense has launched a portal ‘SRIJAN’ to promote indigenization by industry. Where to date 19,509 defense items have been uploaded to the portal which were previously imported. Of these, Indian industry has so far shown interest in indigenizing 4,006 defense items. Due to these steps of the government, the defense procurement expenditure from foreign sources has been reduced from 46% to 36% in the last 3 (three) years i.e. from 2018-19 to 2020-21 thereby reducing the import burden. Further, the value of production by public and private sector defense companies increased from Rs. 79,071 crores to Rs. 84,643 crore for the last two years i.e. 2019-20 and 2020-21.
To complement this public-private effort, the Technology Development Council, a statutory body under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India is supporting M/s Ghaziabad Precision Products Private Limited, (GPP), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh for ‘Critical Machining Development and Process Inspection of SU-30MK1 aircraft components viz. Rotary Pipe Union & Cover respectively valve train components of 1500 HP battle tank engine and valve train components of engine components of BEML regular engines.” TDB sanctioned assistance of ₹ 5.5 crore out of ₹ 14.2 crore of the total project cost .
Through this project, the company aims to establish a facility for the development and supply of Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd (HAL) ‘SUKHOI-30MKI’ Critically Machined Accessory Components and Valve Timing Components of 1500 HP 12V, 25 Liter Diesel Engine. Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) developed by Combat Vehicles Research and Development Institute (CVRDE), Avadi and common engine by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) for BEML. GPP is a registered supplier to both HAL and BEML and will participate in the import substitution process for some components through this project.
Sh. Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Secretary, IP&TAFS, TDB said that, “To help develop the domestic manufacturing ecosystem under GOI’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, TDB is supporting many imported technologies for wider domestic applications to enhance local capacity building. for such critical machinery components and services through private manufacturers across sectors, viz. Defence, Health & Pharma, Automobile and Drone Manufacturing etc. This project is one such initiative for the defense sector where M/s Ghaziabad Precision Products Private Limited will manufacture critical components required for the SU-30MK1 Aircraft, the backbone of the fighter fleet of the Indian Air Force. .”
