Defence Procurement Policy

Procurement of goods and services by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) through public buying platform GeM has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, with about half of it coming in the current financial year. The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched on August 9, 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all central government ministries and departments. "From procurement of general store items like eggs to missile systems and critical defence acquisitions, GeM has helped MoD execute more than 5.47 lakh orders. Of this, transactions worth around Rs 45,800 crore have been awarded in the current financial year," a commerce ministry statement said on Wednesday. It said the defence ministry is the "first" central government entity to cross this figure, exemplifying its resolute commitment towards optimising public spending in the Defence sector," GeM Chief Executive Officer P K Singh said. He added that around 50.7 per cent of the total orders, amounting to Rs 60,593 crore, have been .

The new policy backtracks significantly from the draft DPrP 2018, which aimed at catapulting India into the world's top five defence producers

The draft DAP-2020 retains the first draft's emphasis on promoting higher indigenous content in equipment manufactured in India, including under licence from foreign vendors

The MoD has invited suggestions and recommendations by April 17. After that, DPP-2020 will be promulgated and will govern all acquisitions initiated thereafter

Cancellations reflect poorly on the defence procurement process

Parrikar has pushed hard, but unsuccessfully, for financial penalties for corruption, in place of suspension or bans

The new policy moves away from blanket blacklisting and employs a mix of heavy fines and graded banning

Proposed policy to blacklist firms in a graded manner

This will replace the current DPP-2013, and govern all defence acquisitions initiated after April 2