'SME participation in defense sector set to increase tremendously'

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Namrata Kath Hazarika | 15 Apr, 2009
SMEs' participation in the defense sector will vigorously increase in the next couple of years, says Gurpal Singh, Deputy Director-General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to SME Times on the sidelines of the two-day seminar on "Paradigm Shift in Communication to Support Battlefield Management System" jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Army's Directorate General of Information Systems (DGIS).

Singh pointed out that the defence sector offers immense opportunities for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on various grounds. As India is a manufacturing hub for defense equipment, this sector (SME) has to play a very big role as a supplier of various components for the development of the defence manufacturing industry.

He also mentioned, "In fact, the offset policy that makes it mandatory for all foreign equipment suppliers to source at least 30 percent of any contract value exceeding Rs 300 crore from India has seen a number of global majors entering into partnerships with domestic players."

According to him, rising defence procurement, especially communications and IT equipment, presents an exciting opportunity for the Indian industry to upgrade, since the offset policy does not differentiate between the private and public sectors.

"The SME sector needs to develop themselves in terms of technology upgradation to meet the challenges that SMEs are facing these days," he further said.

Meanwhile, highlighting views on the battlefield management system during the seminar, General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of the Army Staff said that technology would form the backbone of all future wars.

He said that the government would have to suitably prioritize spectrum availability with national security needs.

"More importantly, we have to ensure suitable networking between the communications systems of various security agencies that will ensure availability of real-time data in real-time situations," he added.

The chief further said, "...ensuring sufficient availability of radio frequencies or spectrum for setting up an optimal battlefield management system is essential for the Indian security forces which are today upgrading their legacy communication systems."