162 defence contracts signed between 2012-13 and 2014-15: Govt

New Delhi: Government has signed 162 contracts, valued over Rs 1.33 lakh crore with Indian and foreign vendors between 2012-13 to 2014-15 for procurement of defence equipment like ships, missiles and tanks among others.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that during financial years 2012-13 to 2014-15, a total 67 orders have been placed with foreign vendors for major defence procurements.

He also said the expenditure on capital acquisition in respect of orders placed with Indian vendors and foreign vendors from 2011-12 to 2014-15 was Rs 1,38,630.82 crore (56.02 per cent) and Rs 1,08, 852.55 crore (43.98 per cent) respectively.

The expenditure in respect of orders placed on foreign vendors has reduced from Rs 35,082.10 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 24,992.36 crore in 2014-15.

He added that in the current financial year 2015-16, 33 capital acquisition proposals amounting to Rs 55,800 crore (approximately) have been accorded ‘Acceptance of Necessity (AoN)’ under ‘Buy (Indian)’ and ‘Buy & Make (Indian)’ categories of capital acquisition till January 2016.

Parrikar also said that 34 FDI proposals/Joint Ventures have been approved in defence sector for manufacture of various defence equipment by Indian public and private sector companies.

FDI amounting to Rs 24.84 crore (USD 5.02 million) has been received in the defence industry sector from April 2000 to September 2015. Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has issued 319 Industrial Licenses (ILs) to 190 companies for manufacture of various defence equipment till December 2015, he said.

PTI