India’s Defense Minister Calls For Less Dependence On Imports

India’s Defence Minister AK Antony has urged the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) to make sustained efforts to reduce the dependence on imports to the maximum extent possible. Speaking at the Raksha Mantri’s awards for excellence ceremony, Antony said, “While in the era of globalisation, it is not possible to completely do away with imports, particularly for a growing nation like ours, still the extent of our continuous dependence on foreign sources is not desirable and the situation must change. It can be achieved only by strengthening our research and development capabilities,” he said. Speaking about the recently revised defence offset guidelines, Antony said that “it recognizes Transfer of Technology and investment in kind as eligible for discharge of offset obligations”. He added that technology acquisition by the DRDO for specific technologies will be treated as an eligible offset. In the era of changing times and stiff competition from private sector, the time has come for OFB and Defence PSUs to shed their complacency, as their time of enjoying a monopoly in the market is over, Antony said.