India gives a glimpse of indigenous defence equipment to Army chiefs from Africa

Army chiefs of several African countries on Wednesday, March 29, interacted with the companies working in the Indian defence industry and also checked weapon systems and equipment on display in Pune. The display provided an insight to the African nations into the niche indigenous technology capabilities and the aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) prowess of the nation.

Both India and African nations displayed their military equipment. The Indian defence industries displayed the equipment which have been designed and developed Indigenously and are currently being used by the Indian armed forces.

About the Aatmanirbhar Bharat in defence and indigenous equipment of India

Aatmanirbharata or self-reliance is a concept given by Prime minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government to manufacture goods and equipment in India, for India and also export these resources and equipment to other nations. For India, self-reliance means being a larger and more important part of the Indian economy. This concept requires policies that are efficient and resilient and encourage equity and competitiveness.

PM Modi introduced the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in 2020. To help India become self-sufficient, this was done to promote Indian products in the international supply chain markets. When the government allotted funds worth Rs 20 lakh crores (US 268.74 billion), or 10% of India's GDP, as a stimulus package to help the economy recover by fostering incentives for domestic production, this mission was declared.

The Indian government has implemented several reforms and policy initiatives over the past few years to promote domestic design, development, and production of defence equipment, thereby fostering independence and manufacturing in the defence industry. The initiatives include procurement of capital items of the buy Indian category from domestic sources under the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020. The Indian defence sector is now capable of manufacturing a wide variety of high-end requirements like Tanks, armoured vehicles, fighter jets, helicopters, warships, submarines, missiles, electronic equipment, special alloys, special purpose steels, and a variety of ammunition.

Complete Aatmanirbharta has been achieved in the manufacturing of defence equipment needed by our armed forces within the nation, and progress has been made quickly. As a result of those initiatives many state-of-the-art products including 155mm artillery guns Dhanush, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, Main Battle Tank Arjun, T90 tank, T72 tank, armoured personnel carrier-BMP-II, Advanced Light Helicopter, Dornier Do-228, high mobility trucks, bridge laying tank, medium bulletproof jackets, etc. Furthermore, for the first time, a made-in-India Advanced Towed Artillery gun developed by the Indian industry was part of the 21-gun salute during the independence day celebration at Red Fort in Delhi.

In the past three years, from 2019–20 to 2021–2022 and the current year, the government has accepted 163 proposals totalling approximately Rs 2,46,989.38 crores under different capital procurement categories that support domestic manufacturing in accordance with DAP procurement 2020. The percentage of domestic purchases in overall purchases increased from 59 per cent in 2019–20 to 65 per cent in 2020–21. In the last four years, from 2018–19 to 20221–22, defence product expenditure from foreign sources has decreased from 46 per cent to 36 per cent due to the government's emphasis on indigenisation and the purchase of defence products from domestic resources.