Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence released a new report
What are the findings of the report?
This report is an authoritative declaration from the government of India.
The United States has been India’s biggest supplier of weapons platforms over the past three years.
It is followed by Russia, Israel and France in that order.
India concluded contracts worth around Rs 29 crore with the US during 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
India also signed contracts worth around Rs 7000 crore with others, which include Germany, the UK, Ukraine and Poland.
The committee also demolishes the myth of substantial indigenous production by citing orders placed on defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factories (OFs).
The report details the extent to which orders for “indigenous” weapon systems and equipment actually pay for imported equipment.
This is because the equipment supplied by DPSUs and OFs contains many components, sub-systems and systems acquired from foreign vendors.
e.g Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd retains the import content of the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter at 44%, even after building it in India under licence for over a decade.
