DPSUs produced military hardware worth Rs 1.52 lakh crore in last 3 fiscals: LS informed

New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) India’s defence public sector units have produced military platforms and hardware worth Rs 1,52,275 crore in the last three financial years, according to official data presented in Lok Sabha on Friday.

In responding to a question, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said the total value of defence equipment produced by the defence public sector units (DPSUs) was Rs 45,458 crore in 2018-19. The value of production went up to Rs 47,539 crore in 2019-20 while it further rose to Rs 59278 crore in 2020-21, Bhatt said. “The government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country,” he said.

In the last few years, the government has taken a series of measures to boost domestic defence manufacturing. In May 2020, the government announced increasing the FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent under the automatic route in the defence sector. India is one of the largest importers of arms globally. According to estimates, the Indian armed forces are projected to spend around USD 130 billion (one billion is equal to 100 crores) in capital procurement in the next five years.

The government now wants to reduce dependence on imported military platforms and has decided to support domestic defence manufacturing. To a separate question, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Indian Navy has neither arrested any Sri Lankan fishermen nor seized any of their boats with regard to border violation or any other cases. “However, 460 Sri Lankan fishermen have been arrested and 87 of their boats have been seized with regard to border violation and other cases by Indian Coast Guard from 2014 till date,” he said.

Singh said the Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 2,601 Indian fishermen and seized 473 boats with regard to border violation and other cases from 2014 till date. He was asked about the total number of Sri Lankan fishermen arrested by the Indian Navy with regard to maritime border violation and other cases since 2014.

Singh was also asked about the total number of Indian fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy during the period.

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