DPrP-2018: Arms production targets are “under-ambitious”, says Ajay Kumar - Broadsword by Ajai Shukla - Strategy. Economics. Defence.

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Friday 10 August 2018

DPrP-2018: Arms production targets are “under-ambitious”, says Ajay Kumar

MoD hopes to translate electronics success story and numbers to defence manufacture

By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 11th Aug 18

The new Defence Production Policy of 2018 (DPrP-2018), which is nearing finalisation in the defence ministry, is not overly ambitious says Ajay Kumar, the Secretary for Defence Production (Secretary DP). If anything, the targets it sets are too modest, he says.

Since March 30, the ministry has been evaluating several hundred responses that stakeholders submitted in response to the Draft DPrP-2018. Once that process is complete, the new policy will be notified, the defence ministry told Parliament on Monday.

Several defence industry experts are sceptical about the Draft DPrP-2018’s stated goals. They include making India (currently the largest importer of weaponry) one of the world’s top five defence manufacturers and a global leader in artificial intelligence and cyberspace. The policy aims to achieve self-reliance by 2025 in several weapon systems, including helicopters, fighters, warships, tanks and missiles; raising defence exports to $5 billion annually by 2025, and producing defence goods and services worth $26 billion by that year to create employment for two-three million people.

“The targets set in the DPrP are actually under-ambitious. The indigenous defence industry currently has a turnover of about Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion). Raising this to Rs 1,70,000 crore (Rs 1.7 trillion) by 2025 would require a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of just 13.5 per cent. That is achievable,” Kumar told Business Standard.

The Secretary DP’s optimism is understandable: his last assignment was in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEiT), where he oversaw a phenomenal domestic manufacturing expansion.

“In the field of electronics, India manufactured mobile phones worth Rs 18,900 crore (Rs 189 billion) in 2014-15. By the end of this financial year (2018-19), mobile phone manufacture is slated to touch Rs 130,000 crore (Rs 1.3 trillion). That is a six-fold growth in four years, or 62.5 per cent growth, year-on-year,” says Kumar. “Similarly, television manufacture has grown at 40 per cent year-on-year.”

Kumar acknowledges there are major differentiators in defence, especially the Indian defence establishment’s limited ability to consume large production volumes. “Our defence capital budget is just under Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1 trillion) this year. Assuming a CAGR of eight per cent, the capital budget will rise to Rs 1,70,000 (Rs 1.7 trillion) in 2025,” he said. 

Although DPrP-2018 aims to indigenise key weapon systems by 2025, Kumar accepted that arms import will continue, albeit on a reduced scale. But, alongside imports, he says a growing share of defence manufacture would be exported to buyer countries.

“Even if the Indian military buys only Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1 trillion) worth of defence equipment of the Rs 170,000 crore (Rs 1.7 trillion) we will produce in 2025, the remainder can be exported – and the export market is huge. Building large volumes for export will generate economy of scale, making our defence products cheap and attractive,” says Kumar.

When reminded that all our current defence exports are of second-rung weaponry, rather than state-of-the-art platforms, the Secretary DP says: “That is because we have mistakenly followed the route of manufacturing with “transfer of technology” (ToT) from foreign vendors, and no vendor transfers state-of-the-art defence technology. Since our weaponry does not incorporate the latest technology, it cannot compete in the global markets. We have to, therefore, embrace research and development (R&D) and start building and exporting front-line equipment.”

“Indian firms can compete in the global defence market. Just eight-ten countries dominate the defence industry. But there are 190 countries in the world, and they are all potential customers. Not all of them insist on high-end weaponry,” he said.

Kumar points out that China is amongst the world’s top five defence exporters, having captured large market shares in the less developed 190 countries.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China has sold arms to 48 countries, capturing a $6 billion share of the $100 billion dollar global arms trade.

Kumar argues that India could easily design and develop cutting-edge weaponry, with numerous Fortune 500 firms having established R&D centres here. “Companies like CISCO, United Technologies, IBM and Honeywell have their biggest, or second-biggest, design and development centres in India, which compete with R&D centres in their home countries,” he said. 

“R&D is a fast-growing industry in India. We have birthed about 10-12 unicorns (privately held start-ups that are worth over a billion dollars) in the last decade,” said Kumar. 

In a brave admission, the Secretary DP agreed that defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) presented a culture challenge in scaling up production. “Every decision in a DPSU is a protracted process that consumes time. The rules provide managers with limited flexibility to make quick decisions. Our challenge is: how to galvanize growth in a PSU-dominated environment?” he added.

4 comments:

  1. For a country of our size we still do not make computer chips. We possibly now assemble mobiles, maybe ad 5-10 usd in real value. This value add must grow. We need these for Indian routers and switches and telecom equipment.
    We need India's own operating system to be secure , need to promote that version in all govt mobile phones.

    We need to improve mechanical engineering and look & feel of our products, get to build a scale.

    We need all these infrastructure to build atleast 30 Tejas or 250 ATAGS or 50 LUH or 200000 assault rifles a year .
    Can we build destroyers and frigates at the rate of 2/year ?

    No amount importing Su or Rafale or meteors will make us grow.
    Can the department of defence production do that ? With or without pvt sector ?

    Look at the scream going on just because one part Rafale offset deal is with a pvt company ?
    Can these gentlemen put an end to such screaming and be more specific .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hahahahaaaaaa
    If this was not such a joke it would be surreal
    Dream on secretary spin it
    But when proof of the pudding comes to its eating in a few years
    you will make yourself unaccountable.
    All Power without any responsibility the prerogative of the harlot through the ages
    Explain how we can sack you and take away your pension, if you fail to deliver on your words

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Anon. That GOI person must be mad to see defense exports at $5-billion yr by 2025. Sure there is a huge market. And it is one of the most competitive markets in the world/ "Only" 13.5% growth compounded? What is the matter with this bureaucrat? That's a phenomenal rate of growth.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Privatize the defence manufacturing PSU's should be the first step we have to take if we want to get anywhere close to the targets the Goverment expects

    ReplyDelete

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