Indigenously built items included in negative list to ensure defence services do not go for procurement ex-import: Defence Ministry
Aug 10, 2020
New Delhi [India], Aug 10 : Indigenously built items including Light Combat Aircraft LCA Mark 1A, Pinaka rocket system and Akash missile system have been included in the negative list of imports to ensure that the defence services do not go in for procurement of similar systems ex-import, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.
The MoD issued the clarification after release of negative list for import published on August 9 led to some queries. The Ministry has stated that these systems are also available in the international market.
"The reason for specifying systems presently made in India with part-import content is to ban procurement of such equipment or items which carry similar qualitative requirements but are often contracted under differing nomenclatures," the Ministry said.
It further added that for a product to be considered as an indigenous system, the percentage of indigenous content has to meet minimum laid down specifications.
"Hence, manufacturers are also required to ensure indigenisation and decrease import content to the permissible limits," it said.
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) MK I A, Land-Attack Cruise Missiles (Long-Range),155 mm Artillery Ammunition are among the list of the 101 items that have been put under an import embargo by the MoD.
The import embargo will come into effect on these items in a phased manner. The deadline has been set for December 2025.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced yesterday that the MoD will introduce import embargo on 101 items beyond given timeline to boost indigenisation of defence production and stated that it is as a big step towards 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliance) in defence.
In a series of tweets, he made some major announcements and said that Defence Ministry has prepared a list of 101 items for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against them.
