Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the multi-billion deals to buy the American Chinook and Apache and French Rafale got stuck due to the previous UPA-led government.

“In Apache and Chinook things were going in circle and circle and we had to break the mould. We had to break the mould in Rafale deal also. No decision would have come. One decision is already there, the second decision is very close. To initiate a process afresh is much easier than rectify the massive manipulations, mistakes and total chaos of the earlier regime. Correcting the flaws of earlier regime is taking time,” Parrikar said here today.

India, under the previous government, had signed a $3 billion deal to purchase of 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers with American aviation giant Boeing and the US government. This is to be inducted in the Indian Air Force within the next seven years.

The deal got cleared on September 22 by Cabinet Committee on Security, which was sitting on it since 2013.

Similarly, the deal to buy Rafale fighter jets by French manufacturer Dassault Aviation has been hanging on air since 2010. The deal is expected to be signed by the next month now.

Defence Procurement Procedure 2015

Addressing a session on ‘Self Reliance in Defence Production – The Game Changer’ at the 110th Annual Session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), Parrikar said the revised Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2015 is going to be a dynamic document with half-yearly revisions.

“I know the DPP 2015 has got delayed. It is now getting final touch-ups. This is a not a static document. Within six months of the issuance of document, we can improve up on it. It will be a dynamic document,” he said.

Parrikar added the new DPP will also focus on making the country’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) financially viable in the defence sector. He said the SMEs can deliver more because the sector has more flexibility.

The SMEs will be able to get easier access to finance and can draw advance against bank guarantees.

The minister also highlighted that “not the entire DPP” will be based on the Dhirendra Singh Committee, which was set up to give recommendations on the new DPP.  

The Dhirendra Singh Committee came under severe criticism for taking representations from big international players and not from the SMEs.  

Parrikar added that while DPP 2015 has faced delays, it is going to be a “perfect” document but he said he “welcomes criticism.”

“If we had come back on time then you would have said, this is lack, there is lack, I will take a lot of feedback from industry and chambers. And I am trying to make a perfect document. But no policy can be perfect in first shot. So when DPP 2015 comes out I will definitely welcome critic,” he said.

 

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