From big guns to missiles, India bans import of 101 defence items to boost self reliance

New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that the government has prepared a list 101 items on which there would be an embargo on import to give a push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (Self-Reliant India Movement).

Announcing the development on Twitter, Singh said it would be a big step towards self-reliance in defence.

The list includes artillery guns, missile destroyers, ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, light transport aircraft, long-range land attack cruise missiles, communication satellites, basic trainer aircraft, multi-barrel rocket launchers, a variety of radars, assault rifles, sniper rifles, mini UAVs and different types of ammunition.

The list also spells out when the embargo kicks in for different items --- between 2020 and 2025.

All necessary steps would be taken to ensure that the timelines for the production of the equipment on the negative import list are met, Singh said.

“The list also includes, wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) with indicative import embargo date of December 2021, of which the Army is expected to contract almost 200 at an approximate cost of over Rs 5,000 crore,” the minister said.

He said the ministry has split the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes.

“A separate budget head has been created with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year,” he said.

From raising foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing to creating a separate budget for buying locally-made military hardware and notifying a list of weapons/equipment that cannot be imported, the government had announced a raft of measures to boost self reliance in the defence sector in May 2020.