Rajnath Singh To Review Performance Of 16 Defence PSUs On Nov. 10
Rajnath Singh had declared 2025 as the 'Year of Reforms', underscoring the importance of development of new technology by DPSUs and the need for enhancing exports and indigenisation.
Sixteen defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) are expected to spend over Rs 32,000 crore in research and development in the next five years as they are looking at producing indigenous military hardware, officials said on Saturday.
The proposed expenditure is likely to be discussed when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh carries out an annual performance review of the DPSUs at a high-level meeting on Monday.
Singh had declared 2025 as the 'Year of Reforms', underscoring the importance of development of new technology by DPSUs and the need for enhancing exports and indigenisation.
To achieve this objective, he exhorted them to increase their investment and manpower for R&D. Since then, all the DPSUs have prepared their R&D roadmap for the next five years.
'Over the last 10 years, a total sum of Rs 30,952 crore has been invested in R&D by the 16 DPSUs. The pace of R&D is now proposed to be doubled with projected expenditure of Rs 32,766 crore over the next five years,' the defence ministry said.
While most of the R&D investment over the last 10 years was made by old DPSUs notably Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics Limited, the thrust on R&D is now spread across all DPSUs.
'In next five years, the seven new DPSUs formed upon corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board will invest over Rs 3,000 crore for R&D, while defence shipyards have planned an investment of over Rs 1,300 crore,' the ministry said on Saturday.
At the performance review meeting in New Delhi, a plan by the DPSU for the next five years will be released.
Singh will also release a report on renewable energy, titled 'Swayam'. This report is the first-ever attempt made under the aegis of Department of Defence Production to compile the energy efficiency practices of all the 16 DPSUs, the defence ministry said.
It said the performance of the DPSUs in 2024-25 has been commendable.
The total turnover stood at Rs 1.08 lakh crore, up 15.4 per cent from that in 2023-24, it said.
The DPSUs recorded a cumulative profit of Rs 20,021 crore (after paying tax) in 2024-25, registering a growth of 19.5 per cent over the previous year.
