Defence production cause for concern: MoD panel

While Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has put the brakes on a proposed Rs 25,000 crore defence modernisation fund, the Parliamentary Consu...

While Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has put the brakes on a proposed Rs 25,000 crore defence modernisation fund, the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the MoD today raised concerns over the quality of indigenous defence production.

The committee recommended that the government infuse more funds into home-grown units. Committee members also said that the ‘‘poor quality’’ of some equipment produced by units under the Ordnance Factory Board needed to be looked into.

‘‘There were plenty of recommendations to revitalise existing production units financially, but this could take some time,’’ a senior South Block official said. ‘‘Our expectation from the committee headed by Vijay Kelkar is that it will envision greater participation of the private sector in defence production, which would bring in more competition,’’ the official added.

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‘‘This would supplement any financial assistance the government may decide to give to any of the production units. Of course, as the minister has also said, there will be renewed emphasis on technology transfer in deals signed with foreign firms to upgrade indigenous capabilities,’’ he added.

Mukherjee told the committee today that Kelkar’s report would be ready by the end of this month. Mukherjee said that while Rs 245.92 crore had been spent in 2003-04 on modernisation of the Ordnance Factories, Rs 300 crore would be spent this financial year.