Concerned with lack of security guidelines for private companies involved in design and manufacture of critical defence components, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has come out with a set of recommendations to make India’s Defence industry highly secure

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad:  Concerned with lack of security guidelines for
private companies involved in design and manufacture of critical
defence components, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry
of India (Assocham) has come out with a set of recommendations to make
India’s Defence industry highly secure.

The Assocham on Friday submitted the recommendations to the Ministry
of Defence. A number of private companies are involved in the design
and development of critical components used by Defence units and Armed
Forces. In the absence of security audit, there is every danger of the
critical technology falling into the wrong hands.

“During the process of issue of licences to private companies for
design, development and manufacture of Defense items, it has been felt
that there is a need to institute a system of security audit of
private sector defence companies to ensure that security of the
defence services is not compromised with the grant of industrial
licence to such companies,” the Assocham said.

The Assocham noted that every private company seeking a Department of
Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) licence for defence-related
activity should put in place its own elaborate security instructions
to ensure adequate security

“The Ministry of Defence needs to additionally ensure that all private
sector defence companies meet a certain minimum security criterion
based on a standardised template, acceptable to both sides. This
template, in severity, should be divided into three types, in
conformity with the sensitivity of the type of products and services
being provided by such companies,” it said.

The Assocham recommended that the template cover three sets of
security audit aspects under the headings – high, medium and low.  The
onus of deciding the category under which any private sector defence
company should fall from the security audit point of view would lie
with the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of the Defence Ministry.