(ET)
India will honour payments for ongoing defence procurement to be made to foreign vendors but new acquisitions could get slightly delayed as the government has put in place several expense limitations, even as plans are being put in place to resume operations by defence public sector units (PSU).
The lockdown and its economic toll will not impact committed liabilities that have been budgeted for the armed forces for programs like the Rafale fighter jet deal and the S400 air defence systems, sources told .India is also looking at quickly ramping up local defence production, with defence minister Rajnath Singh directing all PSUs to prepare contingency plans for resumption of operations and make up for lost working time at the earliest.
