Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Monday emphasised the need to adopt changes in financial processes due to the rapidly changing nature and character of war driven by geopolitical dynamics and technological advancements.

Speaking at the apex-level conference on enhancing financial cohesion and synergy in armed forces, the CDS said that such changes have brought about a non-linear and non-predictable evolution, the Ministry of Defence officially stated.

General Chauhan urged all stakeholders to act in cohesion and synergy to safeguard India’s strategic interests while working jointly towards ensuring national security, which is an important pillar of Viksit Bharat, the MoD said.

Vice Chiefs of Service Headquarters (HQs) attended the conference, along with senior functionaries from Service HQs, Coast Guard HQ, MoD Acquisition, MoD Finance, and all Principal Integrated Financial Advisors (PIFAs).

In his opening address, Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (PP&FD) Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan brought out the intricacies of defence procurements while Financial Adviser (Defence Services) Sugata Ghosh Dastidar emphasised the need to reduce foreign dependence and moving towards Aatmanirbharta while ensuring greater collaboration with Academia towards research and development in defence.

The conference, steered by HQ IDS, saw all stakeholders putting forth their perspectives and deliberating ways to enhance cohesion and synergy. Service HQs gave insights into their respective challenges in public procurement and methodologies to overcome the same were discussed.

The PIFAs participated actively in critical issues of capital and revenue procurements. Constructive suggestions and recommendations were elucidated by MoD Finance.

Some of the key deliverables of the conference included the importance of an outcome oriented Budget, expeditious procurements, and financial propriety, the Ministry pointed out. These key takeaways would be forwarded to the MoD for ratification.

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