THE FUTURE OF INDIAN ARMS PRODUCTION

AMIT GUPTA explains why with the “mantra” of giving up what is desirable and opting for what is achievable, joint ventures are the future of Indian arms production

- AMIT GUPTA

Since Independence, India has built up a huge defence production base consisting of 9 defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs), 41 Ordnance factories that employ over 80,000 personnel, along with the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space both of whom have provided critical inputs in to the design of weapon systems. Despite such a large defence industrial complex, India’s track record in weapons production has been unimpressive. Crores of Rupees have been spent on building up and maintaining the defence-industrial complex but the Indian armed forces cannot claim to have received highquality, indigenously manufactured weaponry. Instead, weapons have had a high-imported content making them more expensive to produce at home that to purchase outright from the vendor. Further, weapons programmes have been marked by delays, cost overruns, and slippages in quality, often resulting in imports to make up for the shortfalls in production. In recent times, however, the Indian government has slowly started to enter into joint ventures with foreign as well as domestic companies to build weapons systems but the question is, can such a policy be properly implemented to produce quality weapons systems?

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