Indian private companies to venture into Defence territory

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India's defence budget for current year is a mammoth Rs 96,000 crore, of which Rs 27,000 crore is for capital expenditure including acquisition of weapons systems. Till now, 70% of the budget was spent abroad as Indian Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) couldn't deliver on research or production fronts. Of the remaining 30%, one-third(or 9% of total)went to the private sector while the PSU order book was monopolized by DRDO. In order to achieve self-reliance in defence, the Government, on lines of 'Navratana' PSUs, may grant some of India's big private corporates status of 'Raksha Udyog Ratna' (RUR) or 'Defence Industry Jewel'. Those Expected to get this status(initially for 5 years) are Tata Motors, Godrej & Boyce, Mahindra & Mahindra, L&T, Ashok Leyland and Bharat Forge.