Entrepreneurs have plenty of scope to work with the Indian Army

Updated on: Monday, January 21, 2013

Entrepreneurs have immense opportunity in the defence sector as projects worth 30 per cent of the defence budget is open for them, a top Army official has said.

Claiming that the defence sector has business opportunities to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore per annum, Director General of Artillery Lt Gen Anjan Mukherjee said that entrepreneurs have plenty of scope to work with the Indian Army in areas such as Cyber space, Aerospace and surveillance.

Describing opportunity in Cyber space as "endless", he said it has huge potential as it requires high level of electronics and telecommunication system as well as surveillance system, which needs to be upgraded at regular interval.

However, South Asia, including India, is lacking behind as far as systematic monitoring was concerned, he said.

The DG, Artillery said this while addressing students of XLRI, a premier institute of the Business Management and Human Resources of the country, on "Opportunities in Defence Procurement : An over 50000 Cr Per Annum Business Opportunity".

Mukherjee said the defence sector was now encouraging private sector to work with them, emphasising the need for maintaining quality services while assuring transparency on the part of the defence sector.

Mukherjee said the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) particularly ancillary units have bright scope to work in the defence sector, which procure everything from spare parts to shoe laces in large quantity every year.

India, he said, should invest more and more in the defence sector to ensure a secure border in the interest of the nation.

"At present, we are spending only 2.1 per cent of GDP as the government is focusing on the social sector, an important sector for a country like ours," he said.

Appreciating Indian Aerospace personnel for their excellent work, Mukherjee said the sector was going up in steady pace and had scope for entrepreneurs.

Mukherjee denied corruption in the defence sector particularly after strict measures taken by Defence Minister A K Antony to curb such practice.

There is hardly any scope for corruption in defence since the online procurement system was launched, he said adding that approval of a technical committee was required if procurement by any department was worth over Rs 300 crore.

"The issues of corruption are raised by our enemies, who want our development projects to be scuttled," Mukherjee claimed while assuring that the Indian Army was well prepared to handle such situations.

Entrepreneurs have plenty of scope to work with the Indian Army

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