Fine-tuning of Defence Acquisition Procedures for Atmanirbhar Bharat

The Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 (DAP 2020) was created primarily to focus on self-reliance in the defence sector, which is considered crucial for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. The objective is to minimise import dependencies, and to exploit the export potential of domestic defence production, with the spirit of ‘Make in India and Make for the World’. DAP 2020 provides for various mechanisms in this direction, viz. processes of ‘Make’ categories, ‘Design & Development’, Strategic Partnership, Development cum Production Partner mode, funding schemes for R&D and innovation in different formats of iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence), Technology Development Fund, etc., while also focusing on ‘ease of doing business’. This article is an attempt to examine how far the objectives of the DAP 2020 have been achieved, and also highlights some relevant issues that need to be addressed in the next version of DAP.

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