Global Economic Slowdown Won't Impact India's Defence Procurement: Rajnath Singh

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the global economic slowdown will not have any impact on India’s defence procurement.

author-image
Mohit Pandey
Updated On
New Update
Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh was speaking at the launch of the draft Defence Procurement Procedure, 2020. ( Photo Credit : PTI File )

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the global economic slowdown will not have any impact on India’s defence procurement. Rajnath Singh, who was speaking at the launch of the draft Defence Procurement Procedure, 2020, expressed hope that the global economy may improve in the coming two to five months. On being asked if the global economy’s condition and the coronavirus pandemic would affect Indian defence procurement, the defence minister said, “There would certainly be impact of global economy’s condition on all nations. I feel there would be hardly any impact of global economy’s condition on India’s defence procurement.”

"We can’t rule out a possibility that global economy will improve in next 2 to 5 months," he added. Moreover, for the first time ever in India’s military history, Ministry of Defence has come with a proposal to formally lease critical equipment from a friendly nation.

The government on Friday came up with the draft Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2020 on, wherein it introduced ‘leasing’ as a category to get defence equipment at affordable rates.

Also Read: Reservation Ruling Sparks Row, Modi Govt Says Congress Politicising Sensitive Matter

The new category in the Draft Defence Procurement Procedure 2020, which was unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, will allow the leasing of equipment including warships, transport aircraft can be leased.

Also Read: Army Suspends All Wargames, Trainings As Soldier Tested Positive For Coronavirus

The ‘Leasing’ category has been brought to facilitate acquisition in addition to existing 'Buy' and 'Make' categories. It will substitute huge initial capital outlays with periodical rental payments.

(With PTI inputs)

Rajnath Singh Economic Slowdown Defence Procurement