Make: Myth, Reality Or Pipedream?

Today, in India, the government has shown that they have the will under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They have also shown the way with DAP- 2020. Now it is up to the user, the bureaucracy and Indian industry to utilise both and move ahead, writes COL. ANDREW FERNANDES (RETD)

- Col. Andrew Fernandes(Retd)

The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) as enunciated by Manohar Parrikar, when Defence Minister, is not merely a procurement procedure- it is also an opportunity to improve efficiency of the procurement process, usher change in the mind-sets of the stake holders and promote growth of the domestic defence industry

No words could be truer than that. How India enhances its defence potential and its form of procurement will decide the future of its indigenous defence industry. And within the vast volumes of the procedure, no one categorisation can help achieve self-sufficiency than the ‘Make’ category, where state of the art defence equipment is designed, developed, tested and manufactured in India.

The DPP came into being in 2002. However, the ‘Make’ category was only introduced in the 2005 version. Even then no details were provided until release of the version in 2006 where detailed instructions were provided.

The ‘Make’ category continued to be included as a standalone category in subsequent versions in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013. In the 2016 edition, Make was bifurcated into Make I and Make II. There also, adequate clarity was not provided for Make II, hence a separate chapter dedicated to Make II was introduced in May 2018.

In the latest version of the DPP, now known as DAP (Defence Acquisition Procedure) 2020, Make Category has been bifurcated into three, namely Make I, Make II and Make III.

In the 2006 edition, the scope of Make Category was as under: