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Bharat Electronics Ltd is committed to indigenous manufacture of defence equipment, said MV Gowtama, Chairman and Managing Director, BEL.
Addressing the ‘Opportunities for Industry in Defence’ meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) at the BEL campus, Gowtama said that over 60 per cent of materials used by BEL are sourced from the Indian industry.
“BEL today has 1,280 SMEs in its approved vendor directory and the outsourcing from SMEs is about 30 per cent,” he added.
The opportunity in the Indian defence sector is enormous and technology plays a major role in this sector, he said.
BEML Centre of Excellence
Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) is planning to set up a Centre of Excellence’(CoE) in Bengaluru with an investment of ₹300 crore.
“The CoE will be set up jointly by BEML, the Railways and the Department of Science and Technology,” said Deepak Kumar Hota, Chairman and Managing Director, BEML.
“We require the right policies to catalyse industry and ensure employment. The government needs to concentrate on developing the right skillset among our youth. Industry needs to look at how it can collaborate and work together to bring about indigenisation in the defence sector,” he added.
Karnataka policy
Darpan Jain, Karnata’ska Commissioner for Industrial Development and Director, Industries and Commerce, said the State government is keen to develop a defence corridor .
He said the Karnataka’s industrial policy aims to promote investment and employment generation.
Need for indigenisation
Lt Gen Subrata Saha, (Retd), Director General, SIDM, said that by 2025 India will be a $5 trillion economy. To protect such an economy, the country needs strong armed forces. “For our forces to be strong and sustainable, we need to indigenise as soon as possible,” he said.