Why in News?

• A list of 108 military subsystems and components have been identified for development by the Indian industry and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will provide support for the process.
• This will allow DRDO to focus on design and development of critical and advanced technologies and systems.

News in Detail

• The DRDO would also provide support to industries for design, development and testing of these systems on requirement basis. 
• All the requirements of these systems by research and development establishments, armed forces and other security agencies could be met through development contracts or production orders on suitable Indian industry.
• The development of the subsystems and components would be done over the next couple of years.

Private sector engagements

• The DRDO has been partnering with industry for many years, including the development of full systems like the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) and Pinaka rocket launchers among others. 
• Collaborating with DRDO in the development of major weapon systems the Indian industry has matured to a stage where they can develop systems on their own. 
• Indian industry has progressed from a ‘build to print’ partner to ‘build to specification’ partner of the DRDO.
• The present industry base for the DRDO consists of 1,800 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) along with Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), ordnance factories and large-scale industries. 
• The DRDO already offers its technologies to industry for manufacture at a nominal cost and has been providing free access to its patents.

Negative import list

• The Defence Ministry on August 9 announced 101 defence related items on the negative import list which have to be domestically procured in a phased manner. 
• The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. 
• The import embargo on 101 items beyond the given timeline was to boost indigenisation of defence production.
• The government intends to reach a turnover of $25 billion through indigenously manufactured defence products and also expects to export products worth $5 billion.
• The Defence Ministry has also bifurcated 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 ₹52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year.
• The list of 101 embargoed items comprises not just simple parts but also some high technology weapon systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircrafts, LCHs, radars.

Broader scheme

• A series of measures were announced by the Finance Ministry in May to promote domestic defence manufacturing as part of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative. 
• These include the negative import list, separate budgetary allocation for domestic procurements, indigenisation of spares and components and raising the FDI cap in defence through automatic route from 49% to 74%.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/drdo-identifies-108-subsystems-for-development-by-private-sector/article32430723.ece
2. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/self-reliance-in-defence-production-101-items-to-come-under-import-embargo-says-rajnath-singh/article32308342.ece