Raksha Anirveda
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Positive Indigenisation Lists: Does formal ban on imports help? amit cowshish
W
Certain fundamental questions of efficacy arise over three lists in the past three years banning the import of 310 defence items in order to promote India’s self reliance
ith the notification of the third ‘positive indigenisation list’ of 101 items on April 07, 2022, the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) has so far banned import of 310 defence items in the last two years. According to an official release, the new list includes ‘complex equipment and systems which are being developed and likely to translate into firm orders over the next five years’. The ban will come into effect in phases stretching up to December 2027. Much like the first two lists of 101 and 108 items—numbers considered auspicious in Hindu and some other mythologies— which were notified in August 2020 and May 2021, the third list too contains an assortment of items, ranging from devices like Deep Seaside Towing Winch, Flares and Chaffsto to complex systems like Light Weight Tank, Cadet Training Ship, Naval Utility Helicopter, and Next Generation Fast Attack Craft. The aforesaid official release claims that since the notification of the first two lists, contracts for 31 projects worth Rs 53,839 crore have been signed and Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for 83 projects worth Rs 1,77,258 crore has been accorded.
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More promisingly, procurement proposals worth Rs 2,93,741 crore are slated to be processed in the next five to seven years. The domestic defence industry is elated. While these lists showcase the industry’s capabilities and the armed forces’ cautious optimism that their requirements can be met indigenously, it is arguable if listing out of the items that cannot be imported serves any specific purpose or plays a crucial role in furthering the cause of Atmanirbharta, or self-reliance, in defence production. It is not as if the MoD may have merrily kept importing the embargoed items, as and when required, in the absence of these lists. The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 specifically required the MoD to accord priority to procurement of items that were, or could be, indigenously designed and developed. The Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 has made this rule more stringent. Consequently, it is only after ruling out this possibility, as well as the possibility of manufacturing the desired items in India through transfer of technology from the foreign equipment manufacturer, that permission can be granted for importing an item.
Since the notification of the first two lists, contracts for 31 projects worth Rs 53,839 crore have been signed
Considering that by MoD’s own admission, the items included in the three ‘positive indigenisation lists’ are either already being made, or can be made, in India, the aforesaid rule that has existed for at least six years now would have anyway blocked any attempt to import the listed items. Some analysts hold the view that these lists serve the purpose of advance intimation as regards the items that the armed forces will buy only from the Indian industry after the cut-off date from which the ban on import comes into effect, so that the interested companies could prepare themselves to meet the armed forces’ requirement. This is unconvincing as the objective of sensitising the industry about the needs of the armed forces over the next 15 years was to be served by
