After Make in India, the government is all set to unveil a policy to promote product designing in the country.

Inaugurating the three-day International conference and exhibition on Reinforced Plastics, 2017, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the ambitious ‘Design in India’ policy, which will be an extension of the ongoing ‘Make in India’ programme will target to build, enhance and promote designing capabilities of Indian manufacturers and entrepreneurs so that they can design products of world-class standards to compete with global counterparts and take advantage of ‘Make in India’ programme.

Responding to the long standing demand of Indian composites industry to source defence equipment, components and ancillary material domestically from Indian manufacturers of composite products, Parrikar assured the industry that the Defence Procurement Policy will soon include composite products developed in India.

He maintained that the policy will be updated soon and implemented with necessary procedures and clarification.

“As far as the defence industry is concerned, there is huge potential to source material and equipment domestically, but quality standards and innovations in designing are highly essential. We will soon include composites products in the Defence Procurement Policy, which will allow domestic composites manufacturers to supply to Indian defence industry,” he said.

The ₹5,000-crore Indian composites industry, had made a strong pitch for support from the government and mainly from the Defence Ministry amidst rising imports from Russia and China.

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