That the AK-203 would be produced in India with 100 per cent indigenous content in less than three years makes it a win-win deal for the Army and the Make in India initiative, with Ordnance Factory Korwa emerging as the biggest winner.

Defence capability building and capability sustenance have been adversely affected over the past decade because of inadequate allocations and the status quo approach of the Defence Services.

The challenge lies in demonstrating to potential importers that India, currently the world’s largest arms importer, has the capacity to manufacture and export the equipment required by their armed forces.

The Draft Defence Production Policy 2018, which aims to promote the Make in India initiative in the defence sector and create a world-class arms manufacturing base, faces a number of challenges, which, if left unaddressed, may limit its usefulness.

The promises contained in the recently released draft are so intertwined that a comprehensive action plan would be required to implement all of them almost simultaneously for achieving the policy objective.

The new system of classifying enterprises based on annual turnover will be more reliable, transparent and objective as the qualifying criteria will be verifiable with reference to the data available in the Goods and Services Tax network.

Sector-specific micro parameters that have a bearing on the ease of doing business need to be identified and quantified.