The scope of the offset policy will only be confined to military contracts that involve competitive bidding, said director general (acquisition) Apurva Chandra during a presentation on the new Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020. The critical observations were part of the CAG’s scrutiny of the status of a raft of offset contracts -- including the September 2016 Rafale deal -- between 2005 and 2018. It seeks to increase local manufacturing and reduce timelines for procurement of critical military equipment. The policy has also introduced a new provision for acquiring weapons and systems: Buy (Global --- Manufacture in India). It stipulates that only a minimum necessary quantity of defence equipment will be bought from abroad with the rest being manufactured in India.

Source: Hindustan Times September 28, 2020 13:30 UTC