The Ministry of Defence announced on Sunday (August 9) that it will introduce import embargo on 101 items to boost indigenisation of defence production.
Under this, 101 weapons and platforms will be progressively banned from December 2020 to December 2025 in a bid to become self-reliant in defence production.
This negative list of 101 items also includes wheeled armoured fighting vehicles.
This is meant to serve as an opportunity to the Indian defence manufacturing sector to come up with indigenous products using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told that this list has been made after several rounds of discussion to assess the current and future capabilities with all relevant stakeholders – Armed Forces, public sector, private industries, DRDO, Ordnance Factory Board and other defence PSUs.
The Ministry of Defence is now ready for a big push to #AtmanirbharBharat initiative. MoD will introduce import embargo on 101 items beyond given timeline to boost indigenisation of defence production.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) August 9, 2020
Indian is one of the top defence importers in the world. In 2020, it was the second largest defence importer after Saudi Arabia making up 9.2% of global arms import.
This import embargo will be a shot in the arm for the domestic defence manufacturing industry along with the revised defence procurement and export promotion policy.
Check the list of 101 items here.