Question : Self-reliance in Defence Sector

(a) the total amount disbursed to various institutions between 2018-2021 under the innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme, Institute-wise and State-wise;
(b) the manner in which the innovation incentives under iDEX scheme have strengthened the self-reliance in defence sector and defence production in the country;
(c) the total number of new innovative prototypes, commercial solutions, collaborations have resulted from iDEX scheme;
(d) the rationale behind not guaranteeing the Government procurement for successful prototypes under iDEX scheme; and
(e) the total number of incubation centres set up and Centers/Institutes of National Importance included under iDEX scheme?

MINISTER OF STATE (SHRI AJAY BHATT)
IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(a) The total amount disbursed between 2018-2021 under the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme, Company-wise and State-wise is attached as Annexure.
(b) (i) Till date, iDEX has launched five rounds of Defence India Startup Challenges (DISCs), and three rounds of Open Challenge (OC), receiving more than 2000 applications from innovators. iDEX has been able to fund projects in many technological areas under DISCs and OC through the Support for Prototype and Research Kickstart (SPARK) framework, which entail provisioning of grants upto Rs 1.50 crore to the startups.

(ii) The Partner Incubators (PIs) bridge the gap between the requirements of startups and technological expertise required to develop the product.

(iii) iDEX also features as a procurement avenue under the Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020.

(iv) The Government has approved a scheme worth Rs 498.78 Crore to scale up iDEX in the next five years.
(c) 60 contracts for developing innovative prototypes have been signed under iDEX.
(d) The establishment of iDEX is aimed at creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D development which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs. Accordingly, as per the feature incorporated in the Defence Acquisition Procedure, the prototypes that have been successfully developed through the iDEX framework find the route for procurement by the concerned Services. In line with the above, the Indian Navy has already placed a Supply Order on one iDEX Winner. The Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) are also mandated to follow similar procurement procedure for iDEX cases.
(e) Under the iDEX scheme, Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed with 11 incubators. Out of the 11 Partner Incubators, 7 are Institutes of National Importance and 1 is Institute of Eminence.

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