New Delhi, Mar 23 (KNN) The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared the procurement of 14 items worth Rs 380.43 crore from the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) MSMEs and startups.

The highest decision making council for defence on procurement was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday.

The Indian Army, Navy and Air Force will procure these items.

A fresh simplified procedure for procurement from iDEX startups/MSMEs has been approved by the DAC. 

The DAC has also approved the simplified procedure for Make-II category projects on similar lines of iDEX procedure and would considerably bring down the time taken from prototype development to Contract signing in Make-II projects.

Under the iDEX scheme about 25-40 items are expected to complete prototyping, which will be ready for procurement by end of 2022. (KNN Bureau)