New Delhi: A total of 584 Industrial Licenses have been issued to 358 companies for manufacturing various defence items, informed Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Friday.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today, Minister Bhatt said that the defence industry sector was opened up to 100 per cent for Indian private sector participation in May 2001.
“The initial validity of the industrial license granted under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act has also been increased from three to 15 years,” he said.
“In order to give a push to domestic defence industry, government has taken several policy initiatives in the past few years and brought in reforms to encourage indigenous design, development, and manufacture of defence equipment in the country,” he added.