New Delhi: Lamenting that Indian firms which were given procurement orders under emergency powers have failed to deliver on time, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan said that the armed forces expect “a bit of nationalism and patriotism in your profit-driven endeavours”.
The CDS also hit out at claims by some companies that their products were 70 percent indigenous even when they were not.
“We expect a bit of nationalism and patriotism in your profit-driven endeavours. I am given to understand… actually the Army was telling me that they were scouting for 5th and 6th EP procurements, most of the people have over-promised things and they have failed to deliver in that time frame,” the CDS said Friday, speaking at a seminar organised at the USI.
EP refers to emergency procurements under which the services have been given powers to sign contracts up to Rs 300 crore each to beef up their capabilities without going through the long-winded procurement processes of the Defence Ministry.
“And this is unacceptable. Defence reforms are not a one way street. Industry will have to be truthful about their capabilities to us. You cannot leave us in a lurch. You sign a contract, don’t deliver in that particular time, it is a capability that is being lost. You have to be truthful about your indigenous capability. There could be security related issues. Lot of industry says this is 70 percent indigenous, but actually, if you find out, it is not. You have to be truthful in this. Because it is related to matters of security,” the CDS said.
The 5th EP was exclusively meant for Indian companies. Several industry sources had privately argued that some of the contracts had gone to companies without any manufacturing capabilities and they were just importing foreign items, repackaging and delivering to the armed forces.
In some cases, where officers have themselves publicly claimed a product has more than 60 percent indigenous content, it is actually imported material which is assembled in India by private industry, with the only localisation being manufacturing of the shell and packing material.
The CDS also hit out at the cost factor. “You will have to be cost competitive. Cost competitive is not for selling to the Indian Army. You have to be cost competitive to compete in the foreign market. You can’t have products which are overpriced,” he said.
Interestingly, Indian companies like TATA, L&T, Kalyani Group, SMPP, MKU, SSS Defence and several others are already exporting their products abroad even when the Indian armed forces are yet to place an order with them or have procured in very limited numbers.
Industry sources said that while the concerns raised by the CDS are genuine and they blame select companies, they also pointed out to long delays in delivery of contracted items by American, French, Israeli and Russian companies too.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)