The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the webinar on effective implementation of the Union Budget provisions in the defence sector today. In his address, the Prime Minister said that the webinar assumes great significance as it is focusing on the important issue of making the country’s defence sector self-reliant.

Shri Narendra Modi said that there used to be hundreds of ordnance factories before independence.  In both the world wars, weapons at large scale were exported from India. But, for many reasons, this system has not been strengthened as much as it should have been after independence.

The Prime Minister said that his government has relied on the capabilities of our engineers and scientists on developing the Tejas fighter aircraft and today Tejas is flying gracefully in the skies. A few weeks back, an order worth Rs. 48,000 crore was placed for Tejas.

He said that since 2014, it has been the government’s endeavor to move forward in this sector with transparency, predictability and ease of doing business. Shri Modi said the government has taken steps to bring about de-licensing, de-regulation, export promotion, foreign investment liberalization, etc.

The Prime Minister further said that India has made a list of 100 important items related to defence, which can be manufactured indigenously with the help of our local industries. He said a timeline has been set so that our industries can plan to meet these requirements.

He said it is called a negative list in the official language but it is a positive list in the language of self-reliance. This is the positive list on which the country’s manufacturing capacity is going to increase. This is the positive list that will generate employment in India. This is the positive list that is going to reduce India’s dependence on foreign countries for our defence needs. This is the positive list that guarantees the sale of indigenous products in India.

The Prime Minister said that a part has been reserved for domestic procurement even in the capital budget of defence. He urged the private sector to come forward and take up both designing and manufacturing of the defence equipment so that Indian flag can be kept flying high on the global stage.

He said that MSMEs work as a backbone for the entire manufacturing sector. The reforms that are taking place today are giving more freedom to MSMEs and encouragement to expand.

The Prime Minister said that the defence corridors that are being built in the country today will also help local entrepreneurs and local manufacturing. That is, today, self-sufficiency in our defence sector has to be seen as the empowerment of these two fronts – “Jawan as well as Naujawan ”.

DS/AKJ