Rajnath Singh launches Defence India Startup Challenge-4

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC 4) during the iDEX event, featuring the initiatives aimed at expanding the horizons of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) ecosystem in New Delhi yesterday. Mr Singh also launched the iDEX4Fauji initiative and Product Management Approach (PMA) guidelines during the event.

iDEX4Fauji is a first of its kind initiative, launched to support innovations identified by members of the Indian Armed Forces and will bolster frugal innovation ideas from soldiers and field formations.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr  Singh said, the iDEX initiative stands out as one of the most effective and well-executed defence Startupecosystem created in the  country. He said, it would be a decisive step towards achieving self-reliance in the spirit of the



AtmaNirbhar Bharat campaign.

The Defence Minister said, for the first time, an atmosphere has been created in the country when different stakeholders have been brought together to push for innovations in the defence sector. He said,  in order to further strengthen defence system and make it self- reliant the participation of private sector is also crucial.

Mr Singh said, in this direction, the government has taken certain steps like partnerships with private sector, technology transfer, 74 per cent FDI through automatic route and the recently   released negative list of 101 items for import ban after a stipulated period. He also said, yesterday the government launched Defence Acquisition procedure 2020 which seeks to encourage the private industry to participate in the defence sector.