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In its endeavour to propel the Make in India initiative, the government has opened up an array of opportunities for private sector participation to foster innovation and enable technological development in the defence ecosystem.

To address the challenges facing the sector, a conference on "Opportunities for MSMEs in the Defence Manufacturing Ecosystem in North India" was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Northern Region and Headquarters Western Command, in association with DRDO, TBRL, Base Repair Depot of Air Force, and Headquarters Northern Command here on Tuesday.

"There is a need to focus on capacity building and skill development within the nation. Adversaries, capacity and capabilities are the gaps that we have and given the kind of development happening at the northern borders there is an utmost need to develop a defence ecosystem in the north," said Lt Gen Nav K Khanduri, GoC-in-C, Western Command.

He highlighted the critical challenges faced by the defence sector, including the need for adequate funding in research and development; the lack of an ecosystem involving academia; the need for maintenance and sustenance of equipment; and quality assurance.

One key solution, he shared, is to focus on high-tech and niche technologies while taking the help of local and indigenous manufacturers to capitalise on the capabilities of the Indian MSME sector.

"To make India self-reliant in defence manufacturing, bold initiatives have been undertaken in the defence sector. The northern states have been left behind and need to consider policy initiatives to boost the private sector in defence. The government is providing the required framework and it is for the MSMEs to understand the requirement of the defence equipment needed," said Vikram Sahgal, Chairman MSME Committee SIDM and MD, Micron Instruments Pvt Ltd.

Highlighting the need for an industrial corridor in Punjab that boosts academia-industry connect in the defence sector to actualise ideas in the pipeline, Lt Gen K.J. Singh (retd), former Army Commander, Western Command and Convenor, Gyan Setu, said, "There is ample opportunity available in Punjab in terms of skill base, academia, and many success stories that can be encouraged to foster defence manufacturing."

"We aim to build an Indian defence ecosystem of $26bn defence industry by 2025 with an export potential of $5bn. Our focus is on the indigenisation of the defence industry as our defence exports have grown around 300 per cent over the last five years. The challenge that the armed forces face is the 'screwdriver' concept of technology provision. This cannot be encouraged further if we want to indigenise the defence sector of the country and hence, we are working on creating a design to enhance indigenisation and industry has to align accordingly to further boost it," said Maj Gen P.K. Saini, Principal Advisor, Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers.

Suggesting some measures to boost MSME defence manufacturing, Vivek Gupta, Chairman, CII Chandigarh, said, "Simplification and speeding up of the acquisition process and implementation of quality-cum-cost based selection in defence acquisition are critically required for achieving success."

The conference highlighted the need for capacity building and skill development within the nation, along with funding and capital infusion towards research and development, expansion, and development of the ecosystem along with academia, and continuous maintenance and sustenance of the equipment.