Shares of defence sector companies BEML, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics, Apollo Micro Systems, Walchandnagar Industries among others gained over 1-4 percent in trade on Friday after the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved proposals to procure equipment worth Rs 28,000 crore.

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The DAC, in its meeting on Thursday, held under the Chairmanship of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh approved Capital Acquisition proposals of various Weapons/Platforms/Equipment/Systems required by the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force at an approximate overall cost of Rs 28,000 crore.

“This is the first meeting of the DAC under the new regime of Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 and these are the first set of Acceptance of Necessity (AoNs) accorded with majority AoNs being accorded in the highest categorization of Buy Indian (IDDM),” the government release said.

Six of the seven proposals, that is, Rs 27,000 crore out of Rs 28,000 crore for which AoNs were granted will be sourced from the Indian industry to give a boost to the “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives of the government, it added.

The acquisition proposals approved include the DRDO designed and developed Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) Systems for the Indian Air Force, Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Indian Navy and Modular Bridges for the Indian Army.

In a bid to boost domestic production, the government in August had announced restrictions on the import of 101 weapons and military platforms including artillery guns, assault rifles and transport aircraft in what could give a major fillip to the domestic defence industry.

The list of 101 embargoed items comprises some high technology weapon systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircraft, light combat helicopters (LCHs), radars and many other items.

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First Published:Dec 18, 2020 11:01 AM IST