By Ayaskant Das

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) The department of defence production has set itself a 12 per cent higher target of producing Rs 90,000 crore equipment in this financial year. Of this, Rs 15,000 crore equipment is envisaged to be exported.

In 2018-19, the department had produced Rs 80,502 crore equipment and exported Rs 10,745 crore equipment. According to the department, greater focus will be on modernisation and indigenisation of domestic manufacturing to boost production.

Speaking at a seminar on modernisation and indigenisation of the IAF, here on Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had stressed the need to reduce dependency on imports. India continued to be one of the largest importers of defence equipment in the world, he said.

He also pointed to the sizeable dependency on foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for sub-systems and components. "We need to cut dependency on foreign manufacturers and develop comprehensive capabilities ourselves," Singh said.

The domestic defence production has grown from Rs 74,121 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 80,502 crore in 2018-19. In 2017-18, it had touched Rs 78,817 crore.

Defence exports too have witnessed a tremendous growth from Rs 1,521 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-19. In 2017-18, the exports stood at Rs 4,682 crore.