India has come to be recognized as an economic and technological powerhouse in the making.  Indeed, India’s rapid strides in space exploration along with its impressive advances in the cutting edge technology of nuclear power generation and  a leadership position in software and IT (Information Technology) industry are  clear pointers to the  greater role India is poised to play in the global affairs in the years ahead.

Unfortunately, India has not been in a position to exploit its inherent strategic advantages to make the defence production sector resurgent enough to meet most of the needs of its armed forces. Today around 70% of the hardware needs of the Indian defence forces are met through imports. In this context, LK Advani, leader of the opposition is right in his observation that a country as large and populous as India with such a vast pool of scientific and technological talent must not remain excessively dependent on imports for meeting the defence needs.

India’s Defence Minister AK Antony has stated that “a country like India cannot indefinitely depend on foreign weapons.” He is of the view that Indian industries, in both the private and public sectors should hone their skills and upgrade their expertise, to enter the defence production sector of the country in a big way. Antony has also urged the state owned Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to strengthen its ‘core competence’ and augment its ‘research and development’ base to minimize India’s dependence on imported hardware. He has also driven home the point that “India’s image as a global leader in information technology should be reflected in the national defence domain.” MM Pallam Raju, Minister of State for Defence said that “private sector should complement and not compete with defence public sector units.” This perspective does not augur well for boosting the indigenization of defence production. The immediate thrust should be on pooling the expertise and know how available in the Indian industry, cutting across the public-private sector barriers.

Strategic analysts have all along been wondering why DRDO has not been able to replicate the space success story scripted by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), which is a much younger set up in comparison to the DRDO.   However, right from the outset, DRDO has been bedeviled by problems including lack of focus, unclear priorities, interference from bureaucracy and defence establishment, smear campaign by vested interests and influence of a well entrenched import lobby .Of course, now efforts are continuing to fine tune the activities of DRDO with an enhanced focus on self reliance in defence production. As stated by Brig Gurmeet Kanwal, Director of the New Delhi based Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), “there can be no alternative to self reliance in defence technology and DRDO deserves the whole hearted support of the political leadership, the armed forces, the media and public.” Certainly DRDO which is at the centre stage of Indian defence R&D has all the potential to turn India into a global defence production hub.

Marshal PK Barbora, Vice Chief of the IAF(Indian Air Force) while speaking at the national convention on ‘frontiers of aerospace technologies’ held in Bangalore in April this year , was of the view that since India missed out on the mid level technologies, the manufacturing base of the Indian defence sector could not catch up with the global trend. According to Barbora, reverse engineering could be one of the solutions for generating products that are not easy to get. He also pointed out that in terms of exports; defence industry of Pakistan is ahead of its Indian counterpart.

India’s Minister of State for defence MN Pallam Raju has stated that defence offset proposals worth Rs490 billion that are now in the pipeline would help both the private and public sector industries in India to augment their skill, technological edge and manufacturing base. Maj Gen Mrinal Suman, head of defence and technical assessment unit and advisory services Group of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) is of the view that India has not considered it necessary to direct offsets to pre-designated areas of its choice. Since India has not much experience in the area of defence offset, it is likely that there could be shortcomings in the implementation of offsets. As defence experts point out, as the offset implementation gathers momentum, India would be in a position to sharpen its focus on meeting its needs.

However, the technical capability and resource base of the Indian private sector needs to be boosted to help India emerge as a major player in the global defence market. Industry bodies in India have  been highlighting the need to  increase the  FDI(Foreign Direct Investment)cap in Indian defence industry  to 49% from the current 26%.As things stand now, there should  be serious, all round efforts to harness the technological strength and corporate energy of India, with a set of incentives, to put in place a vibrant military industrial complex for not only meeting the needs of the Indian defence forces but also to help India enter the global defence market in a big way.