Corruption in defence deals not only increase the cost of procurement, it also hampers the combat capabilities. Discuss the steps taken by the government to deal with corruption in defence procurement. Also comment how indigenous defence manufacturing can help in this regard.

India is one of the world’s largest defense importer. Allegations of corruption in military procurements are as old as independent India. Due to middlemen, instances of corruption increases the cost of procurement. Also due to corruption allegations, the deals are stuck and this delayed delivery adversely impacts the forces.
In order to tackle such issues, Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was amended to introduce integrity pact. There is a provision of integrity pact between the government and suppliers for all procurement schemes over 20 crores. Supplier companies will have to sign the pact with the government, declaring that neither side will be involved in bribing. In case of any wrongdoings, the companies will lose their security deposits or bank guarantees. Also, the amendment enhanced a number of such security deposits. Along with that in order to make acquisition process simpler and transparent, the government launched web portal to provide an interface with industry.
Being one of the largest importers of defense equipment, India is more vulnerable to such issues of corruption in procurement. There is need to encourage domestic manufacturing in order to stop imports and take to create a robust military-industrial complex in India.