NEW DELHI\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will double up as India’s defense minister, replacing the former Ministry of Defence chief Manohar Parrikar, who has been appointed chief minister of his home state of Goa after the March 11 state election.
Jaitley’s latest appointment comes against the backdrop of a report by a select parliamentary panel that criticizes the government for spending little to benefit the defense sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Committee are distressed to note that no positive response has been received from the Ministry of Finance regarding augmentation of budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Defence,” the panel said in its report, which was tabled in lower house of Parliament last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Jaitley allocated $40.29 billion for the next financial year as against\u00a0$37.76 billion last year, but analysts had said the budget allocation would merely take care of inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Being close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley will find it easier to push through weapons projects,” offered Nitin Mehta, a defense analyst here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top priority for Jaitley would be to push Make in India projects, according to a senior MoD official. “With Jaitley as defense minister, the policy in the waiting on Strategic Partners seeking to boost investment in the domestic defense sector will get a boost,” the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysts say Jaitley will need to push several delayed projects. Big-ticket weapons projects that need to be rapidly executed include an early request for proposals for the purchase of six air-independent propulsion-enabled submarines worth $12 billion, finalization of the production of a single-engine fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force worth $15 billion and the purchase of more than 2,000 futuristic infantry combat vehicles from domestic companies at a cost of more than $11 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the other projects that are finalized but still require funding include the purchase of about 500 software-defined radios for the Air Force; the acquisition of\u00a056\u00a0C-295 transport aircraft from Airbus, which will be partly built by the Airbus-Tata Group partnership under the Buy and Make India category; the purchase of 280\u00a0British-built Jaguar aircraft from\u00a0Honeywell of the U.S. at a cost of $2 billion; the purchase of 100 tracked artillery guns from private company Larsen & Toubro at a cost of about $700 million for the Indian Army; and the procurement of four landing platform docks at $2.6 billion for the Indian Navy from domestic shipyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n