Government tenders worth over £1.3 billion were either cancelled or withdrawn and re-issued after the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) stepped in to change their conditions for promoting goods made in the country. A top government official said, “The DIPP is taking every step for effective implementation of public procurement order, 2017, to promote 'made in India' products.” The order was issued on June 15, last year, to promote manufacturing and production of goods and services in India and enhance income and employment in the country.
A tender worth £800 million was withdrawn and re-issued with modified conditions after the DIPP's intervention. The project was related with setting up of a urea and ammonia plant for gasification. Similarly, a tender for procurement of train set coaches was cancelled as the tender has certain restrictive conditions which were discriminatory against domestic manufacturers and favoured foreign players. The project cost was £500 million. The move is of significance as in March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concerns at the restrictive and discriminatory clauses being imposed against domestic manufacturers and suppliers in tender documents for public procurement.
The official said, “Directions were given to ensure strict compliance of the order in letter and spirit. All nodal ministries were directed to ensure notification of local content.” The DIPP has asked for immediate issuance of guidelines and notifications relating to declarations of items with sufficient local capacity, domestic content. Under the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, it was envisaged that all central government departments, their attached or subordinate offices and autonomous bodies controlled by the Government of India should ensure purchase preference be given to domestic suppliers in government procurement.
The official further said that any grievance related to the issue will be taken care by the standing committee on implementation of this order. It is chaired by DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek. Several departments and ministries, including pharmaceuticals and defence production, have already identified number of items for declaring domestic content.
