Govt nod for defence testing scheme

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved a scheme under which infrastructure would be developed at a cost of Rs 400 crore to help domestic military firms carry out testing of indigenously developed military hardware.

The Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) is aimed at boosting domestic defence and aerospace manufacturing, officials said.

“The defence minister approved the launch of DTIS with an outlay of Rs 400 crore for creating state-of-the-art testing infrastructure for defence sector,” the defence ministry said.

Significance of the scheme

Under ‘Make in India’, the government has accorded high priority to development of manufacturing base of defence and aerospace sectors in the country to reduce dependence on imports. Towards this, the government has announced establishment of Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs) in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 

One of the main impediments for domestic defence production is lack of easily accessible state-of-the-art testing infrastructure. Defence testing infrastructure is often capital intensive requiring continuous upgradation and it is not economically viable for individual defence industrial units to set up in-house testing facilities. 

The scheme aims at setting up Greenfield Defence Testing Infrastructure (required for defence and aerospace related production), as a common facility under private sector with government assistance mainly in DICs.

Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme

The objective of the proposed scheme is to promote indigenous defence production, with special focus on participation of MSMEs and startups by bridging gaps in defence testing infrastructure in the country. Setting up of defence testing infrastructure will provide easy access and thus meet the testing needs of the domestic defence industry.

The ministry said the scheme would run for a duration of five years and envisages setting up six to eight new testing facilities in partnership with private industry.

It said projects under the scheme will be provided up to 75 per cent government funding in the form of ‘grant-in-aid’. The remaining 25 per cent of the project cost will have to be borne by private entities and state governments. 

The special purpose vehicles to be set up to implement the scheme will have to be registered under the Companies Act, 2013, and shall also operate and maintain all assets under the scheme in a self-sustainable manner by collecting user charges. 

The equipment/systems tested will be certified as per appropriate accreditation.

At present, India is one of the top importers of military hardware globally. The government has been focusing on making India a hub of defence production.

According to the latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading think-tank on military spending, India’s defence expenditure stood at $71.1 billion in 2019, which is third highest after the US and China.

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