“To promote ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence…” Rajnath Singh announces ban on imports of over 900 items

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the convocation ceremony of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology asserted that to promote self-reliance in the Defence sector there is a need to decrease imports from the Defence Public Sector Undertakings for which government has approved four Positive Indigenisation List for all forces under which 411 system equipment and more are covered under ‘import embargoes’. “To promote ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence and minimise imports by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), the government has approved ‘Fourth Positive Indigenisation List’ (PIL) of all forces under which 411 system equipment and more are covered. Similarly, we have taken the number of import embargoed items to 4666…” Earlier, a press release shared by Defence Ministry stated that the ‘Fourth Positive Indigenisation List’ (PIL) of 928 strategically-important Line Replacement Units /Sub-systems/Spares and Components, including high-end materials and spares, with import substitution value worth Rs 715 crore. These will only be procured from the Indian Industry after the timelines indicated in the list.