Defence Minister launches various initiatives of DPSUs & OFB

News: Defence minister has launched several initiatives by Defence PSUs and OFB as part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Saptah.

Facts:

• Atma Nirbhar Bharat Saptah: It is an initiative of the Ministry of Defence to boost indigenisation of defence production which will provide impetus to Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

Key Initiatives Taken and Launched:

• Negative List: These are a list of 101 items that the Defence Ministry will stop importing.It essentially means that the Armed forces will procure these items from domestic manufacturers.The manufacturers could be private sector players or defence Public Sector Undertakings(DPSUs).
• Increase in FDI limit: The Government of India has raised the Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in defence manufacturing from 49% to 74% under the automatic route.
• Separate budget for domestic capital procurement: Defence ministry has bifurcated the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes.
• Maareech Integration facility: It has been launched by Bharat Electronics Limited(BEL) for manufacturing, integration and testing of Anti Torpedo Defence System Maareech which has been designed by DRDO.
• Industrial Design Centre: It has been set up by BEML to focus on infrastructure creation in the Defence Sector.
• Center of Excellence – Special Materials: It has been set up by MIDHANI to primarily focus on promoting applied research for the development of Special Materials used in aerospace, defence, nuclear, space and other strategic areas.