Ordnance Factory Board Ropes in IIFT for Training – Make in India

New Delhi: In a move aimed at increasing defence exports and promoting Make in India through the offset policy, the Ordnance Factory Board has engaged the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) to train its officers on product identification, export incentives, commercial documentation and customs procedures. IIFT will also help them design the export strategies of various factories under the board.

“There is a greater mandate by government to increase defence exports from India. The programmes will help fill the gap in understanding of regulations, modes of payment and other commercial aspects,” Vijaya Katti, deanacademics at IIFT, told ET.

The programmes have come at a time when India’s defence exports grew seven-fold to Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 1,521 crore in 2016-17.

The government has mandated 41 ordinance factories and nine defence PSUs to explore the opportunities in international market for exports. The factories form an integrated base for indigenous production of defence hardware and equipment, with the primary objective of self-reliance in equipping the armed forces with state of the art battlefield equipment.

It has also authorised companies to export military equipment to 42 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Finland, Germany, Israel, the US, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

The 3-5 day training module is focussed on opportunities and challenges for defence exports including international payment system especially letter of credit, currency risk management strategies, understanding competition and competitiveness, pricing and packaging strategies for international markets, EXIM finance for pre-shipment and post-shipment, FEMA rules and duty drawback for defence exports.

Under the programme, the factories share the list of products that they produce and post completion, they design the export strategy plan.

“There is a demand to incorporate offsets into the course and this is crucial as Indian exports need to stand up to the global quality norms,” Katti said.

The extant defence procurement policy mandates for offset procurement of certain inputs for any defence-related imports of India, thus creating an ecosystem for supply of defence equipment, intermediates and accessories.

The institute, under the commerce and industry ministry, has conducted programmes for officers of at least three factories.

Source: ET

Image Courtesy: BharathShakti