Surat: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the government has set a target of achieving a turnover of $26 billionby 2025 in defence production as India cannot remain dependent on arms import forever.
The government has taken several steps to support the private sector to boost indigenous defence manufacturing, Singh said after flagging off the 51st K-9 Vajra-T gun at the Larsen and Toubro's (L&T) Armoured Systems Complex at Hazira here in Gujarat.
"India cannot remain dependent on arms import. We have set a target of achieving a turnover of $26 billion by 2025 in the defence production. This involves an investment of $10 billion in this sector and generation of two-three million employment opportunities," he said addressing the gathering.
Singh noted that participation of private sector in defence manufacturing was negligible in the past. "The private sector could not perform because of lack of support. This scenario increased our dependence on imports," he said.
"Our government has taken many steps to change this scenario so that India becomes not only self-reliant, but also a net exporter in this sector," the defence minister said.
"We have streamlined the defence offset policy and we will make more improvements in it. We have created a defence investment cell in the Defence Ministry to address bottlenecks related to investment in this sector," he said.
He, however, said there is a lot to be done to make India a defence manufacturing hub. Singh earlier performed puja of the gun, drew 'swastika' (holy symbol) on it and showed a green flag to the 51st gun.
L&T Defence is currently executing the 'K9 VAJRA-T' 155mm/52 calibre tracked, self-propelled, howitzer guns program.
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