India spends a significant amount of resources on its national defence. Efficiency in utilisation of resources is not only an economic imperative but vital for defence preparedness. In view of this, the Defence Economics and Industry Centre was created in 2006 to promote research on various economic aspects of India’s defence. Since its inception, the Centre has undertaken a number of policy relevant studies besides constantly engaging vital stakeholders (Ministry of Defence, Armed Forces and Industry) on a range of issues. The major focus areas of the Centre are:
Defence and security cooperation have been the mainstays of the India-Israel strategic engagement. The Monograph places in perspective these aspects of the relationship, three decades into the establishment of full diplomatic ties. The study notes that India is taking a series of measures to enhance domestic procurement and defence indigenization.
Defence and security cooperation have been the mainstays of the partnership. The study notes that India is taking a series of measures to enhance domestic procurement and defence indigenization. Going forward, strategic partners like Israel will be expected to continue to work more closely with the domestic defence industry to fulfil the critical requirements of India’s armed forces.
On reginal security issues like the Iranian nuclear contentions, India has adopted positions largely in opposition to the preferred Israeli policy preferences. India has, however, consistently held that it is opposed to the possibility of a nuclear Iran, given the negative repercussions for regional security and stability, as well as due to the Iran-Pakistan proliferation linkages.
India’s Palestine policy, meanwhile, will continue to be guided by its core principles on the issue, even as the possibility of an independent Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel, looks difficult to materialize in the near to mid-terms. This is even as the schisms within the Palestinian national movement look set to expand in the post-Mahmoud Abbas era.
The book brings to attention the dynamic path India-Israel relations have traversed in the past three decades, encompassing areas of defence and security and high-technology cooperation. New vistas of engagement are being pursued by both countries, bilaterally as well as with other countries. The first I2U2 Summit meeting held between the leaders of India, Israel, the UAE and the US in July 2022 emphasized the geo-economic focus of the unique mini-lateral group. An India-Israel enhanced strategic partnership is a win-win proposition, bilaterally and across regions.
Changes in public financial management across the globe have necessitated India to revisit its traditional methods of managing and depicting its public finances. One of the major changes envisaged is a quest to migrate gradually to accrual accounting from the traditional cash-based accounting.
This book thoroughly probes the Indian Defence industry and the policies pertaining to it. Based on hard core evidence, it identifies the key shortcomings of this vital sector and provides a detailed roadmap for the Modi government’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ programme to succeed in defence production sector. Though written with a clear focus on influencing policy making, the book is presented in an accessible format to be easily understood by the wider strategic community.
The book attempts to study the defence industrialisation process that has been adopted by the militarily developed and developing nations to analyse, orient and adapt their best practices to the Indian defence industry and technological base. The analysis reveals that there is a requirement to re-assess, re-align & re-model the Indian defence industry apparatus in line with the vision of accelerating indigenisation, self-sufficiency and strategic capability, as pertaining to military systems.
The Monograph provides a comprehensive roadmap for reforming India’s defence offset policy which despite having gone through several rounds of revisions in past decade or so, still lacks effectiveness. The roadmap is based on extensive study of offset practices followed by six countries: Canada, Israel, Malaysia, South Korea, Turkey and the UAE.
India's current defence imperatives transcend the ideeological 'defence vs. butter' debate. Even while there may be no profound existential concerns, the geo-political reality of a deeply troubled neighbourhood, long legacy of border disputes with neighbours in the north and west and a widening spectrum of potential warfare from conventional and strategic to the asymmetric can be ignored at our own peril.
Democracies of the world have many similarities, notwithstanding the differences in the system of governance and the governmental structure. The decision making by the Higher Defence Organisation (HDO) and the government of the United States and India face similar challenges regardless of the threat perception and the role, size and the employment of the military.
The Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) is the organisation that is responsible for ensuring the quality of a wide range of military hardware at the time of their procurement. This is a very old organisation and has evolved over a period of time to meet the aspirations of its customers. However, since the introduction of Defence Procurement Procedure it has invited lot of criticism from its users due to the delays caused in procurements and attributable to Quality Assurance (QA), as also the introduction of sub-standard equipment in service.
This article examines India’s defence expenditure over the past ten years. In so doing, it provides a public finance perspective to explain the recurring resource crunch being faced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The article reasons that a substantial augmentation of resources for the MoD in the past has faced stiff barriers due to lack of tax buoyancy and also the political, economic and other exigencies that have led to greater public spending outside the traditional areas of expenses, including defence.
Post-COVID, the renewed emphasis on indigenisation in India calls for a fresh, in-depth examination of the entire range of issues and policies pertaining to the development of a capable domestic base for the defence industry and technology.
Over the last decade or so, especially during much of Barack Obama’s presidential tenure, the defence sector has become the focus area of cooperation between India and the US. India’s engagement with the US in the area of defence is riding on a new-found realism that drives both countries’ strategic aspirations.
How effective are offsets as a means to boost a domestic defence industry? This article takes a novel approach to answering this question; examining global data on levels of defence sales over three decades as a measure of successful defence industrialisation (i.e., using the market as an indicator of success). The quantitative data points to a mixed picture as despite the ubiquity of defence offsets, they are no guarantees of success in defence industrialisation.
The available literature on defence planning in India does not make for very encouraging reading. A few things stand out. Firstly, there is an acute dearth, if not almost complete absence, of authentic official accounts and analysis of what has gone on in the name of defence planning over the last six decades. Secondly, narratives based either on personal recollection or on opinions and views of those who have directly or indirectly been associated with defence planning at different points of time have filled this void. Others have chipped in too.
Although India has established a formal mechanism for implementation of the defence offset policy, the structure and procedures lack the thrust to fulfil the objective of energizing the Indian defence industry. Besides, the policy is not supported by the existing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and licensing policies. While evidence suggests that domestic industry can absorb offsets, what India needs is an effective body to handle offsets, liberal FDI and licensing policies, and a better banking provision.
There is today an increasing acceptance of the concept of defence outsourcing of non-core logistic functions. Outsourcing frees commanders to focus on their primary task and saves resources. The paper attempts a holistic treatment of the subject from conceptual concerns to related practical issues. A brief scan of defence outsourcing the world over leads us to examine benefits that accrue and the precautions that should be taken. The paper goes on to analyse types of functions that can be safely outsourced and suggests a methodology for the entire process.
