New Delhi: As part of the efforts to promote 'Atmanirbharta' and minimize imports by the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the fourth "Positive Indigenisation List" (PIL) of 928 strategically-important Line Replacement Units (LRUs)/Sub-systems/Spares and Components, including high-end materials and spares, with import substitution value worth Rs 715 crore.
According to the Ministry of Defence, these items will only be procured from the Indian Industry after the timelines indicated in the list.
The Ministry of Defence in a statement said that this list is in continuation to the previous three PILs which were published in December 2021, March 2022, and August 2022 respectively, which involved LRUs/Sub-systems/Assemblies/Sub-assemblies/Spares and Components.
These lists include 2,500 imported items that have already been indigenized and 1,238 high-value imported items which will be indigenised within the given timelines. Out of 1,238 items, 310 items have already been indigenised, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement further stated that the "DPSUs will undertake indigenization of these items through different routes under the ‘Make’ category and in-house development through the capabilities of MSMEs and private Indian industry, thereby providing impetus to the growth in the economy, enhanced investment in defence and reduction in import dependence of DPSUs."
In addition, this will augment the design capabilities of the domestic defence industry by involving academia and research institutions, MoD added.
"The DPSUs will soon initiate procurement action for these notified items. The industry may look for Expression of Interest (EoIs)/Request for Proposal (RFPs) on the Srijan Portal Dashboard especially designed for this purpose and may come forward to participate in large number," according to the statement.
The details of the items have been made available on SRIJAN Portal (srijandefence.gov.in), the statement added.