10-01-2005, 03:09 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Govt to allow pvt firms in defence production </b>
Pioneer News Service / New Delhi
The Union Government in an effort to enhance the role of private sector in defence production and ordnance factories is keen to allow working arrangements between the private industry and ordnance factories through memorandum of understanding (MoU), Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here on Friday.
Announcing that the Government was committed to have a proactive defence industry at a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Defence Outsourcing here, he said the ordnance factories can have working arrangements with private industry.
The minister, however, said it would not be possible, at present, to allow joint ventures and equity participation by private manufacturers in the restrictive guns and ammunition manufacturing sector.
The turnover of the eight Defence Ordnance factories during 2004-05 was to the tune of Rs 6,150 crores, of which orders already to the extent of Rs 1,900 crores are outsourced to private industry.
Mr Mukherjee clarified that joint ventures and co-production could be undertaken in the defence public sector undertakings. Stating that the Government was committed to have a proactive defence industry, he said available resources, capability and infrastructure should be treated as national assets and harnessed to the fullest extent.
The Defence Minister stressed the need for indigenisation and urged the private sector to prepare for "risk sharing" in quest for developing futuristic weapons systems.
Speaking on the subject of offloading, he said the Government wanted to enforce outsourcing of support systems of the armed forces, so that the forces were confined to task of soldiering. He urged the private sector to set up specialised agencies for these as was the practice followed by armies in the Western countries.Â
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Pioneer News Service / New Delhi
The Union Government in an effort to enhance the role of private sector in defence production and ordnance factories is keen to allow working arrangements between the private industry and ordnance factories through memorandum of understanding (MoU), Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here on Friday.
Announcing that the Government was committed to have a proactive defence industry at a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Defence Outsourcing here, he said the ordnance factories can have working arrangements with private industry.
The minister, however, said it would not be possible, at present, to allow joint ventures and equity participation by private manufacturers in the restrictive guns and ammunition manufacturing sector.
The turnover of the eight Defence Ordnance factories during 2004-05 was to the tune of Rs 6,150 crores, of which orders already to the extent of Rs 1,900 crores are outsourced to private industry.
Mr Mukherjee clarified that joint ventures and co-production could be undertaken in the defence public sector undertakings. Stating that the Government was committed to have a proactive defence industry, he said available resources, capability and infrastructure should be treated as national assets and harnessed to the fullest extent.
The Defence Minister stressed the need for indigenisation and urged the private sector to prepare for "risk sharing" in quest for developing futuristic weapons systems.
Speaking on the subject of offloading, he said the Government wanted to enforce outsourcing of support systems of the armed forces, so that the forces were confined to task of soldiering. He urged the private sector to set up specialised agencies for these as was the practice followed by armies in the Western countries.Â
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