New Delhi, Jul 3 (KNN) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be prime-tier vendors in the procurement of defence equipment by the government from the industry for Rs 31,130 crore approved by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), said Defence Ministry.

DAC in its meeting headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday approved the proposals worth around Rs 38,900 crore for capital acquisition of various platforms and equipment required by the Indian Armed Forces.

“The equipment is going to be manufactured in India involving Indian defence industry with the participation of several MSMEs as prime-tier vendors,” said the Defence Ministry.

As per the Defence Ministry, the indigenous content in some of these projects is up to 80 per cent of the project cost. A large number of these projects have been made possible due to Transfer of Technology (ToT) by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to the indigenous industry.

In May this year, while exhorting MSMEs to make India self-reliant in defence technology and products, Defence Minister had said, “I would like to say that we have to have our indigenous products, ie ‘vocal for local’, but before that in our own life, ‘local’ has to be focal.''

''That is, we have to adopt ‘swadeshi’ products in our life. There is no doubt that MSMEs have a very important role in the goal of indigenous manufacturing, and in the goal of self-reliant India,” he added.

The Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSME) has mandated that every Central Ministry/Department/PSU shall set an annual goal of minimum 20 per cent of the total annual purchases from the products or services produced or rendered by MSEs.