Rajnath Singh launches web portal for ‘Opportunities For Make In India in Defence'

In a bid to make the defence sector self-reliant, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday launched a portal for ‘Opportunities For Make In India In Defence' via video conferencing facility as part of 'Atmanirbharta Saptah'. This development comes a day after Rajanth Singh asserted that self-reliance in the defence sector is far more crucial than any other field. 

In sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of self-dependent India, Rajnath Singh launched the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Saptah’ (self-reliant India week) on August 10. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat also attends the valedictory session. 

Earlier on Thursday, Rajnath Singh launched Konkurs Missile Test Equipment and Konkurs Launcher Test Equipment, which have been indigenously designed and developed by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). Earlier, the products were imported from Russia.

The Konkurs Missile Test Equipment (KMTE) and Konkurs Launcher Test Equipment (KLTE) are designed for checking the serviceability of Konkurs - M Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and Konkurs - M Missile Launchers respectively. India's treasury will see a substantial foreign exchange saving after the indigenisation of the products.

READ: Rajnath Singh emphasises on self-reliance in defence sector, says security is 1st priority

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MoD bans import of 101 items

The Ministry of Defence has prepared a list of 101 items for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against them. This decision will offer a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to manufacture the items in the negative list by using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed & developed by DRDO to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces.

MoD has bifurcated the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes. A separate budget head has been created with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year. The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. 

READ: Ban on import of 101 items big step towards Atmanirbharta, will save crores: Rajnath Singh

READ: Defence Minister Rajnath Singhto launch 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Saptah' on Aug 11

(with inputs from agencies)

(Image credits ANI)