Capital procurement proposals worth Rs 2.46 lakh crore for armed forces approved in last 3 years: Govt

The government on Monday said that it has accorded approval to 163 proposals worth Rs 2,46,989 crore under various categories of capital procurement for the armed forces in the last three years.

Minister of State for Defense Ajay Bhatt, replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, also said the share of procurement from domestic firms has been on an upward trajectory.

"The government, in the last three years that is from 2019-20 to 2021-22 and current year (2022-23 up to September 2022), has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to 163 proposals worth Rs 2,46,989.38 crore approximately , under various categories of capital procurement which promote domestic manufacturing as per DAP-2020," he said.

The AoN is the initial approval for any defense project.

Procurement is done under the framework of the Defense Acquisition Procedure (DAP).

Bhatt said the share of domestic firms in the total procurement was at 54 per cent in 2018-19.

It jumped to 59 per cent in 2019-20 and to 64 per cent in 2020-21, he said.

He said the defense exports this year, till date, have been estimated at Rs 6,058 crore.

Asked about the schemes launched by the government to make the country self-reliant in the field of weapons and defense equipment and the targets that have been achieved so far, Bhatt said the desired information is "sensitive in nature and its disclosure is not in the interest of national security."