Amit Cowshish

Given the rapidly rising pension liability in India and the concern expressed by the CDS, the experiences of the US and the UK could be useful in carrying out pension reforms in India.

• April 23, 2020 |
• Policy Brief

Considering the impending financial crunch due to the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty about allocations in the coming years, it is unlikely that the MoD will be able to launch many new procurement programmes under the new DPP any time soon.

• April 17, 2020 |
• Comment

The present crisis is as much of a challenge as an opportunity to infuse financial realism in defence planning and bring about concomitant reforms in the quickest possible timeframe.

• April 13, 2020 |
• Comment

Draft DPP-2020 marks a paradigm shift from the past in many respects. It contains several new features intended to hasten the procurement process and provide a further fillip to the Make in India initiative in defence.

• April 08, 2020 |
• Policy Brief

There is a need to act quickly on the issue of force majeure to scotch all speculations about how the MoD is going to deal with the inevitable delay in performance of contracts and instil confidence among the vendors.

• April 06, 2020 |
• Comment

There is a need to evolve a protocol for contract administration and post-contract management of all capital and revenue contracts awarded by various departments of the defence ministry and the armed forces.

• November 25, 2019 |
• Comment

The government seems to have little fiscal space for accommodating the demand of the armed forces for additional funds, given its quantum on the one hand and the state of its revenues on the other which are already quite stressed.

• September 26, 2019 |
• Comment

The blueprint for the operationalisation of CDS would require intensive deliberation to make sure that no aspect of its implementation is left unaddressed.

• August 30, 2019 |
• Comment

Even if the Fifteenth Finance Commission manages to make a specific recommendation about the funds to be allocated for defence and internal security and the government accepts the recommendation, there can be no guarantee that the actual allocation will not fall short of the accepted level.

• July 24, 2019 |
• Comment

It would be nice to see the defence ministry setting up a task force and submitting actionable recommendations which could be considered by the finance minister while deciding the defence outlay next year.

• July 10, 2019 |
• Comment