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During CNBC-TV18’s event of decoding the Union Budget, Singh said that they are on pace to sign the largest number of contracts ever.
“Last year was another high of ₹1.08 lakh crore. This year we have already hit ₹1.15 lakh crore and my intent is to double last year’s number before the end of this financial year, and the result in terms of expenditure will follow thereafter,” Singh said.
The Defence Secretary aid that he intends to end the year by crossing contracts worth ₹2 lakh crore or maybe more as he intends to ensure that order books are full across the board in the defence industry.
“So that everybody has visibility, everybody from the OEMs down to the component manufacturers, that their order books are full for the next four to five years, and everybody is on the same page when it comes to fulfilling our capability gaps,” Singh added.Singh also spoke about US President Donald Trump asking India to procure more defence items from the US. He said that there are some procurements on the anvil, where American companies will be in the picture.
“As long as they are able to meet our requirements in terms of quality and in terms of certain levels of indigenisation, of course we’ll be – those are carrots that we will be able to dangle before the Americans,” the secretary added.
A good proportion of India’s requirements are being met from US companies, according to Singh, who also said that they intend to continue doing so. “There will be significant buys and some of that will go to the US industry as well.”
India’s Defence stocks have faced selling pressure over the last two trading sessions, despite an increase in allocation to the sector compared to last year.
The Nifty India Defence index fell 5% on Monday, with stocks like Bharat Dynamics and Hindustan Aeronautics declining over 6% each. Stocks like Mazagon Dock, that reports results this week, also fell 6% on Monday.
