Dhirendra Singh Committee, Key Recommendations and Significance

The Dhirendra Singh Committee was an important step towards reforming India’s defence procurement system and strengthening the domestic defence industry. It looked at how India could involve the private sector, improve defence acquisition and build greater domestic capability in the production of defence equipment. Its recommendations later contributed to important changes in India’s defence procurement framework.

About the Dhirendra Singh Committee

The Dhirendra Singh Committee was constituted by the Ministry of Defence to recommend reforms in India’s defence procurement system and promote Make in India in defence manufacturing.  

• Constituted by: Ministry of Defence.
• Year: 2015.
• Chairperson: Dhirendra Singh, former Director General (Acquisition).
• Report submitted: July 2015.
• Total recommendations: 43.
• Major focus: Defence indigenisation, private-sector participation, procurement reforms and development of domestic defence manufacturing capabilities.

Key Recommendations of the Dhirendra Singh Committee

The Dhirendra Singh Committee recommendations sought to reform defence procurement while using procurement policy to create stronger domestic defence manufacturing capabilities.

• Strategic Partnership Model: Select capable Indian private companies as long-term partners for developing and manufacturing major defence platforms such as aircraft, warships, submarines and armoured vehicles.
• Three Partnership Models: Use Strategic Partnership for critical defence areas, Developmental Partnership for projects requiring significant indigenous design and development, and Competitive Partnership where competition among companies is more suitable.
• Greater Private-Sector Participation: Give Indian private companies a larger role in defence production and allow capable firms to participate in major and complex defence programmes.
• Foreign Technology Partnerships: Encourage Indian companies to partner with foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) so that foreign technology and expertise can contribute to developing manufacturing capabilities in India.
• Better Information for Industry: Share the Armed Forces’ future equipment requirements with industry so that companies can plan their investments, production capacity and technology development in advance.
• 15-Year Capability Roadmap: Strengthen the Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap (TPCR) to provide industry with a clearer picture of the military’s long-term capability requirements.
• Early Identification of ‘Make’ Projects: Identify indigenous development projects well in advance because developing and producing new defence equipment requires considerable time.
• Wider Participation in ‘Make’ Projects: Allow capable private companies and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to participate in projects involving indigenous design and development.
• Higher Indigenous Content: Increase the share of Indian design, technology, components and manufacturing in defence equipment so that Make in India results in genuine domestic capability rather than only assembly of imported systems.
• Flexible Indigenous-Content Requirements: Set different indigenous-content requirements depending on the technological capability available within Indian industry instead of applying the same requirement to every defence product.
• Reform Single-Vendor Procurement: Do not automatically cancel a procurement when only one technically qualified vendor remains, particularly when the requirement involves specialised equipment with naturally limited suppliers.
• Greater Access to Defence Infrastructure: Allow private industry greater access to government research, testing and proof-firing facilities so that companies can develop and test defence products without having to create all infrastructure independently.
• Defence Manufacturing Skill Development: Establish a Defence Manufacturing Sector Skill Council and promote internships, training programmes and specialised facilities to develop skilled manpower for the defence industry.
• Financial and Tax Support: Provide appropriate financial and tax incentives for companies undertaking defence research, development and indigenous manufacturing.
• Support for MSME Technology Development: Improve access to technology-development support for MSMEs so that smaller companies can contribute components, subsystems and specialised technologies to the defence supply chain.
• 10-Year Defence Industrial Roadmap: Prepare a long-term roadmap with clear targets for domestic defence production and greater coordination among the Armed Forces, DRDO, public-sector defence enterprises and private industry.
• Defence Export Promotion: Simplify approval procedures for defence exports and help Indian manufacturers access international markets, thereby expanding the scale of domestic defence production.

Also Read:- Parliamentary Committees

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Significance of the Dhirendra Singh Committee

The significance of the Dhirendra Singh Committee lies in its attempt to make defence procurement a means of building long-term indigenous defence capabilities.

• Strategic Partnership Framework: Its Strategic Partnership Model created a framework for developing capable Indian private companies as long-term partners in critical defence sectors.
• Private Sector Integration: It helped expand the role of the private sector from being mainly a supplier to becoming a producer and system integrator in defence manufacturing.
• Procurement Linked to Indigenisation: It sought to use government defence orders to encourage Indian design, development and manufacturing.
• Long-Term Industry Planning: Its emphasis on sharing future military requirements gave Indian industry greater visibility for investment and capacity creation.
• MSME Integration: It brought MSMEs into the defence industrial ecosystem, particularly for components, subsystems and specialised technologies.
• Foundation for DPP 2016: The Government stated that the Committee’s 43 recommendations were suitably factored into DPP 2016, making it an important step in the evolution of India’s defence procurement policy.
• Defence Self-Reliance: It provided a policy basis for reducing excessive dependence on imports by developing domestic capabilities in design, production and technology.

Dhirendra Singh Committee and Later Defence Procurement Reforms

The Committee’s recommendations were subsequently reflected in changes to India’s defence procurement framework.

• DPP 2016: The Government stated that the Committee’s 43 recommendations were suitably incorporated into the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016.
• Strategic Partnership Policy: The Strategic Partnership Model was incorporated into DPP 2016 as Chapter VIIin 2017.
• V.K. Aatre Task Force: A task force headed by V.K. Aatre was constituted to develop the criteria and methodology for selecting Strategic Partners.
• DAP 2020: The Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 further strengthened the focus on Indian design, development and manufacturing, including priority for Buy (Indian-IDDM).