New Delhi, Sept 15 (KNN) The defence sector received 50 suo motu proposals from MSMEs, including startups under the simplified Make II Defence Procurement Procedure over the last six months, said Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Department of Department of Defence Production.

Over a video conference at a seminar organized by Department of Defence Production in conjunction with Bharat Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata, Kumar said “One of the proposals has been accepted by the Indian Army.”

He said that under the ‘Make in India’ program, the Defence Acquisition Council had cleared a simplified ‘Make-II’ procedure to enable greater participation of industry in acquisition of defence equipment. The simplified procedure came into force in February 2018.

The changed rules have allowed ‘suo motu’ proposals from the industry and with this change Kumar said, industry today is in a position to suggest best solution for the defence sector.

According to Kumar, the simplified ‘Make II’ procedure will bring innovative solutions in the defence industry and help bring down imports.

India is currently the world's largest importer of defence items, including arms, and time has come to change the status by going in for indigenization, he said.

Further, Kumar claimed that the Make II program has been able to generate “a huge response” in the last six months.

“In the last six months, 25 in-principle approvals have been issued and six EoIs (Expression of Interest) have been floated. These are large numbers, considering the usual time delays in defence procurement,” he said.
This has helped bring down the timeline for defence procurement by nearly one-third.

To provide equity support to MSMEs for innovations in defence, Srei Infrastructure has proposed the creation of a defence offset fund in which foreign suppliers can invest a part of their offset obligations, Srei, CMD, Hemant Kanoria,  told media-persons on the sidelines of the defence seminar.