Indian Defence Start-Ups Need Venture Capitalists: Vice Chief Of Army Staff

The Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen BS Raju observed that Indian defence industry needs venture capitalists and investors for the development of domestic manufacturing sector.

Inaugurating the 15th edition of the North Tech Symposium’s exhibition, where 162 companies exhibited their products on 7th May, the Vice Chief said “I have not seen any venture capitalists or investors here – they are key components of the development of any defence industry – any of these people could have seen a bright spark in 10 of these and put their money and that is the way forward”.

The event was organised under the aegis of Northern Command based at Udhampur where the exhibition showcased the prowess made by Indian defence industry. Delivering the speech Lt Gen Raju recounted the demands of Indian Army.

“We have a very complex environment to operate. We, Commanders, have to empower our men to do their job. Towards this end, we need multiple technologies whether in terms of surveillance equipment – short, medium, long that can ably operate in the mountains and high altitude areas, and also be able to operate from minus 50 to plus 50 degrees. We need drones of all kinds for persistent surveillance which are able to carry payloads, munitions, be able to operate in swarm environment and we need secure communications,” said Vice Chief.

Speaking about the indigenisation, Lt Gen Raju said that the future wars will be fought with indigenous equipment. The focus is on to develop these capabilities. Indian Army in the last two years has entered into contracts worth Rs. 40,000 crore with the indigenous defence industry, informed the Vice Chief.

Most importantly, he announced that the “AoN (Acceptance of Necessity) will only be given to Indian defence manufacturers”.

“We are working with the Indian defence industry to design and develop 39 solutions of which 16 are already in the prototype development stage and in the coming years some of these will fructify,” he further informed.

The defence exhibition showcased cutting edge technologies and innovative products providing solutions to the complex challenges faced by the security forces in Northern Command which looks after our borders along Tibet in the north and Pakistan to the west. The technologies and products on display covered a wide range, the prominent ones being surveillance and situational awareness, tactical mobility, firepower, force protection, communications, robotics and simulators.

Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi lauding the initiative and innovations by the vendors said that the plethora of technologies available indigenously can further boost the ‘atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) project of country.

Ravi Shankar