World over, the spurt in military expenditure is driven by the global war on terrorism and the need for ensuring safety of the national borders. This increase in expenditure is sustainable in the long run if the defence industry becomes one of the primary sources of income, employment generation and contributor to the national exchequer. Globally, the concept of offsets has been successfully utilized to promote the domestic defence industry towards this end. It has been shown that it can play a critical and definitive role in bringing about a sea change in the development of sustainable, in house, military capability.
The defence industry in India is poised to grow rapidly. This growth is driven by the modernization and upgradation plans of the three services, conceptualized in view of the current profile of equipment, majority of which is bordering towards obsolescence.
Year 2011 started with the announcement that India's first indigenously developed light combat aircraft has been awarded initial operating clearance indication to the world that like its economy, India's defence industrial sector has also come of age. The reality is however far different. The labour of the last 27 years has yielded at best a fourth generation weapon platform with an all imported Engine and most of the cockpit. It is yet to receive operational clearance and in all probability the complete set of armament mounted on it will also be imported.
This announcement was closely followed by release of much awaited DPP 2011. However the changes in the current policy have fallen far short of the industry's expectations.
Documentation, paper work, understanding of rules and regulations are essential components of doing business in India. This book is an attempt to put all offset related issues in a logical and sequential manner. It also provides the reader an insight into the global scenario along with the deficiencies and the shortcomings in our policy which are detrimental to its successful. |
