PM Modi addresses post budget webinar on ‘Aatmanirbharta in Defence-Call to Action’

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today delivered the inaugural address at a post-budget webinar on Aatmanirbharta in Defence-Call to Action organised by the Ministry of Defence. He emphasized this year's budget will help further to achieve self-reliance in the defence sector.

Noting that the budget has a blueprint for developing a vibrant ecosystem for research, design, and development of manufacturing within the country, he highlighted that about 70 percent of the defence budget has been kept for domestic industry.

The Prime Minister said that only 200 industrial licenses were issued in a period of 14 years from 2001 to 2014, however during the last seven years more than 350 licenses have been issued which demonstrates his government's commitment to Make in India.
"We have increased defence exports 6 times in the last 5-6 years. Today we are providing Made in India Défense Equipments and Services to more than 75 countries", the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi underscored the importance of customization and uniqueness of the defence systems for having a surprise element over the adversaries. He said, "Uniqueness and surprise elements can only happen when the equipment is developed in your own country."
On the issue of cyber security, Mr Modi stressed that the domain is no longer confined to the digital world but has become a subject of national security. "The more we deploy our formidable IT power in the defence sector, the more confident we will be regarding our security", he said.

Lauding the ordnance factories for being a shining example of progress with determination, he expressed happiness that 7 new defence public sector undertaking that was incorporated last years are rapidly expanding their business and reaching new markets.
This was the fourth webinar in the series of post-budget webinars addressed by the Prime Minister.

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