Defence Offsets: International Best Practices and Lessons for India

The Monograph provides a comprehensive roadmap for reforming India’s defence offset policy which despite having gone through several rounds of revisions in past decade or so, still lacks effectiveness. The roadmap is based on extensive study of offset practices followed by six countries: Canada, Israel, Malaysia, South Korea, Turkey and the UAE. The Monograph argues that in comparison to the offset policy followed by these countries, the Indian policy has inherent design flaws that needs a through overhaul for it to become effective. The Monograph also establishes a methodology for assessing the impact of the Indian offset policy on the domestic industry.

About the Author

Dr Laxman Kumar Behera is Research Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), a premier think tank under India’s Ministry of Defence. As a member of the IDSA’s Centre of Defence Economics and Industry, Dr Behera has vertical specialisation on issues related to Arms Procurement, Defence Offsets, Defence Industry, Military Spending, and Defence Cooperation. He was closely associated with two high-level Committees set up by the Indian MoD on Defence Acquisition and Defence Expenditure. He was a Consultant to the Task Force on Self-Reliance and Defence Modernisation constituted by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Government of India. Dr Behera held the prestigious ICCR Chair, India Studies, at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.