First private sector facilities for the manufacture of ammunition and missiles opened in Kanpur(UP)

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It is opened in the Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs) of UP.
- the other defence corridor is in Tamil Nadu.
The Defence Industry sector was opened up to 100% for Indian private sector participation in 2001.

Need for privatisation of the Defence sector:
- India is third largest military spender(after US and China) and the world's largest arms importer, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Report.
- The share of the defence budget can be reduced which stands at 13.04% of the total government expenditure.
- Surplus production will boost defence exports and would help to achieve the set target of 35000 crore of exports by 2024-25.

Concerns: security concerns like protection of sensitive data at the hands of private companies; selling weapons to customers who are not aligned with India’s national interest; etc.

Government steps for promotion of indigenous Defence Production:
- Priority to the procurement of capital items from domestic sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020.
- Liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) policy by allowing 74% FDI under automatic route.
- The launch of the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme.
- The SRIJAN portal to facilitate indigenisation by Indian Industry including MSMEs.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) handed over SAMAR assessment certificates to nine Industry Partners.

About SAMAR
- It is a benchmark to measure the competency of defence manufacturing enterprises.
- It is based on a maturity assessment model developed by the Quality Council of India (QCI)
- Applicability: to all defence manufacturing enterprises.
- Validity: 2 years.
- It’s an outcome of the collaboration between DRDO and QCI.