There is a need to formulate a composite policy that focuses on indigenisation in high priority technology areas, shedding the notion that it must necessarily result in savings. A more modest and focussed mission-mode approach to indigenisation can produce better results.

India’s defence eco-system is indeed becoming more dynamic as it strives to achieve the tough defence exports targets.

Self-reliance in defence may be better realised if India’s military instrument were to be shaped by political guidance and geopolitical considerations instead of being carried away by the contemporary winds of COVID-19.

Although the new measures announced to fast-track the defence sector are significant, they do not add up to a comprehensive and overarching reforms package.

The inevitable reprioritisation of the central government’s expenditure in the coming union budgets would affect the resource allocations particularly for big ministries like the MoD, which will be forced to realign their business practices.

The present crisis is as much of a challenge as an opportunity to infuse financial realism in defence planning and bring about concomitant reforms in the quickest possible timeframe.