- India
- Aug 19
- Sreesha V.M
What is ‘Positive Indigenisation List’ of defence ministry?
• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has notified the sixth positive indigenisation list comprising 405 strategically important items with an estimated business potential of Rs 3,070 crore.
• These include 16 items of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and 389 items of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).
• Each item has an indicative timeline for indigenisation.
• Upon successful indigenous development, these items will be procured from the Indian industry.
• It is expected to further expand opportunities for the Indian industry, strengthen the domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem, promote investment and innovation, and contribute to reducing dependence on imports.
Positive Indigenisation Lists
• India is one of the largest importers of arms globally.
• The government wants to reduce dependence on imported military platforms and has decided to support domestic defence manufacturing.
• In the past few years, the government has taken several policy initiatives and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country, thereby expanding the production of indigenous defence equipment.
• Positive Indigenisation List is an initiative to support indigenisation and build a robust defence industrial ecosystem within India.
• The lists are prepared after several rounds of consultations with various departments of the Ministry of Defence, Service Headquarters, DRDO, and DPSUs.
• The list bans the import of specific military items after a set deadline, ensuring they are sourced exclusively from domestic manufacturers.
• The defence ministry promulgated the first Positive Indigenisation List on August 21, 2020.
• All the items included in the lists will be procured from indigenous sources as per provisions given in Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
• This list provides continuous impetus towards self-reliance in defence.
• The DPSUs will undertake indigenisation of these items through different routes under ‘Make’ category and in-house development through the capabilities of MSMEs and private Indian industry, thereby providing impetus to the growth in economy, enhanced investment in defence and reduction in import dependence of DPSUs.
• In addition, this will augment the design capabilities of the domestic defence industry by involving academia and research institutions.
• The DDP launched the SRIJAN Defence Portal in August 2020 as a dedicated platform through which the DPSUs and Service Headquarters (SHQs) offer defence items to the industry, including MSMEs and startups, for indigenous development and production.
• Since its launch, the portal has facilitated the offer of more than 33,000 defence items for indigenisation by DPSUs and SHQs up to June 2026.
• These include 5,012 items notified under the first five positive indigenisation lists.
• More than 15,700 defence items have been successfully indigenised, resulting in an estimated import substitution value of about Rs 9,000 crore over the last five years.
• In addition, DPSUs have placed procurement orders, including in-house production, worth approximately Rs 10,000 crore on domestic vendors up to March 2026.
(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)