THE DEPUTY chief of the army staff, Lt. General ZU Shah, has assured Indian industry of “total transparency” and a “level-playing field” in the army’s dealings with the public and private defence equipment suppliers, even as the General outlined the core areas where the participation of industry was vital.

 

In his keynote address at the Second Interactive Army-Industry Meeting on Modernisation of the Armed Forces, organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here today, Shah said that the core areas where the army would expect indigenous industry to gear itself for meeting the defence requirements are: Improvement in night fighting capabilities; precision guidance where one round would mean one kill; improvement in command and control systems; upgrading missile capabilities, which are still import dependant; and improvement in all-weather battle capabilities.

 

Responding favourably to industry’s demand for its participation in weapons procurement at the categorisation stage as recommended by the Kelkar Committee, Shah said, “We will find a way to make that happen,” adding that, “We will put the exact equipment required by the army on the net so that industry knows well in advance what is expected of it.”

 

VRS Natarajan, chairman, FICCI Defence Committee and CMD, BEML Ltd, underlined the need for the creation of centres of excellence for the production of weapons and other products for the defence forces. He called for a consortium approach for the development of multiple products in order to lend flexibility to the manufacturing facilities. He mooted the idea of setting up SEZs for defence production and exports.

 

Rahul Chaudhry, co-chairman, FICCI Defence Committee and CEO-SED, TATA Power Company Ltd, said that there was a dichotomy in the Indian defence sector as the country was the largest importer of weapons systems and yet was the second largest employer of personnel in defence production. He said, in defence, the government is the market and unless products are indigenously produced, the strategic price that the country would have to pay internationally would be extremely huge.