New Delhi, July 16 (Agency) In a major boost to Aatmanirbharta in defence and minimise imports by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence has notified the fifth Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) for 346 items. These items include strategically important Line Replacement Units, Systems, Sub-systems, Assemblies, Sub-assemblies, Spares and Components and raw materials. The import substitution of these items is estimated to be worth Rs 1,048 crore, a Defence Ministry statement said. These items will only be procured from Indian industry after the timelines of indigenisation as indicated in the list available on the Srijan portal. In 2020, the Ministry of Defence had launched the Srijan Portal. The DPSUs will undertake indigenisation of the items mentioned in the fifth PIL through various routes including ‘Make’ procedure or in-house development involving the industry, including MSMEs. This will provide impetus to the growth in economy, enhanced investment in defence and lead to reduced import dependence. Besides, this will also augment the design capabilities of domestic defence Industry due to the involvement of academia and research institutions.
The DPSUs that will indigenise the defence items in the fifth PIL include Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), BEML Limited, India Optel Limited (IOL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL).Earlier, four PILs comprising 4,666 items were notified by the DDP for DPSUs, of which 2,972, having import substitution value worth Rs 3,400 crore, have already been indigenised. These five lists for DPSUs are in addition to the five positive indigenisation lists of 509 items notified by the Department of Military Affairs (DMA). These lists include highly-complex systems, sensors, weapons and ammunition.Till June 2024, over 36,000 defence items were offered to the industry for indigenisation by the DPSUs and SHQs. Of them, more than 12,300 items have been indigenised in the last three years. As a result, the DPSUs have placed orders on domestic vendors to the tune of Rs 7,572 crore.