Private sector defence production at Rs 16k cr: Rajnath

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the private sector defence industry production in India was Rs 16,000 crore in the financial year 2018-19.

Addressing a round table conference of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of defence and aerospace companies here, Rajnath Singh further said that the cumulative production of all the defence industries in the country in 2018-19 was Rs 80,000 crore.

The conclave with the theme ‘Make in India in the Defence Industry’ was held in Vigyan Bhawan where Rajnath Singh also stressed upon the Central government’s focus to strengthen the defence PSUs and the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

Rajnath Singh informed the CEOs that his ministry has set up an end-to-end offset processing portal through which proposals of $1.5 billion value were processed. Entry barriers for MSMEs were also reduced and this resulted in doubling of the defence licenses issued from 215 in 2014 to 440 in 2019, he said.