Army wants Indian MSMEs to develop futuristic technology to cater to their needs

Kolkata, June 7 (KNN) The Indian industry has good capability at home to develop the necessary equipment, but there is a for further development, said Lt General Subrata Saha, deputy chief of army staff of planning and systems

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference here, Lt Gen Saha said “The needs of the army are two-fold. We want to procure defence equipment and products which cater to the present needs indigenously, but also want the Indian companies to develop futuristic technologies for our needs.”

The army itself needs to engage directly with the industry to make them understand about the immense monetary potential for the Indian industry.

"We have good capability at home to develop the necessary equipment. The ball has started rolling and there is room for further development. Products designed, developed and manufactured in India will have the highest priority," he said.

He further said that the revision in the Defence Procurement Procedure 2016 (DPP 2016), in line with the government's Make in India initiative, encourages indigenous design, development and production of defence-related equipment.

Saha also said that the provision of threshold limit in the DPP would encourage the smaller companies to bid.

"On one hand, we need products while on the other we are in need of integrated solutions.

We are letting the industry know about these," he added.