As per government’s statistics, industry’s investment s in R&D across all sectors is around 0.3% of GDP and Government’s investments is around 0.7% of GDP. The low level of R&D investment is because of several reasons. Lack of concerted efforts can be attributed as the main reason. It is imperative to bring all the stakeholders on board to discuss hard core issues related to defence R&D / technology having direct bearing on India’s military modernisation plans and self-reliance.
Developed countries and some of the developing countries including China are spending higher percentages of their respective GDP on R&D related activities. World over investment in R&D is linked with the marketing and commercialisation of the product. R&D in India is yet to reach that stage.
In the Defence sector, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been mandated to carry out defence R&D activities. However commercialisation of the technologies is yet to pick up. However, due to the procedural complexities and security sensitivities involved, the private sector companies could not exploit DRDO developed technologies. No defence industrial base can be created without handholding and incentivising the industry in general and SMEs in particular. With the economic growth, it seems the R&D funds with the Service HQs and HQIDS remain unutilised year after year.
Despite all the shortcomings, it remains a long cherished aim of the Government of India to achieve self-reliance in defence through indigenisation. In order to have robust defence industrial manufacturing base in India, government will have to pay special attention to augmenting the technological and manufacturing base of the country. To attain the much cherished goal of self-reliance and indigenisation, it is imperative on the Government of India to have a clear roadmap in place. Technology Capability Perspective Roadmap (TPCR) does throw some light on the future requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. While the efforts to or acquire or develop state-of-the-art critical technologies should go on, it is important to focus on the existing technologies or the low hanging fruits.
Import substitution has to be the top priority. Creating platform integration capabilities within the country may take some time. However, in the interim, there is a need to an eco-system wherein most of the critical components and sub-systems are also developed within the country through collaboration or independently. CII has been an ardent advocate of creating more platforms under Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Joint Ventures between Indian and foreign companies. These companies should invest more in Research & Development so that Intellectual Property Rights stay within India.
Despite global economic slowdown and severe cuts in the defence budget by the developed economies, Indian defence sector provides the most lucrative business opportunities to all the stakeholders.
While Government has taken considerable steps to boost the confidence of private sector to invest in the defence industries, the access to advanced technologies still remains an area of concern. To understand the industry and end-users’ perspectives, CII and CENJOWS have partnered to bring various stake holders including, services’ personnel, industry leaders/representatives, policy makers, academics and prominent members of the strategic community on the same platform, “DEFTECH 2014,” to share their views.
