Par panel asks DoT to push Defence PSU status for ITI

A Parliamentary panel has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to push for defence PSU status for Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), with the Department of Defence Production (DDP).

Taking note of “lack of follow-up action”, the Standing Committee on IT, chaired by BJP MP Anurag Singh Thakur, has said that the proposal needs to be “favourably considered”, as it will increase the state-owned telecom company’s prospects of getting more work orders.

“It appears that no follow-up action has been taken by the department on this recommendation of the committee... The committee desires that the department should once again impress the Department of Defence Production for granting of DPSU status to ITI, and upgrade necessary infrastructure,” the panel has said in a recent report on revival of the sick PSU.

The basic idea is that apart from taking up projects like Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON), NFS, and radars, it may be able to participate in various other projects reserved for Defence PSUs.

Studies conducted by the Ministry of Defence and DRDO had found ITI to be capable of meeting their requirements, the report said, to buttress its point.

The committee, in its report, pointed to the huge Defence requirements of the country, and said that most PSUs, be it Bharat Electronics, or Bharat Dynamics, or Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, are “over-flooded with demand”.

The committee suggested that the Telecom Department and ITI should collaborate with Defence PSUs “to extract some work from them”, and sought to be updated on the action taken.

It said that a study conducted by the Ministry of Defence in 2013, had suggested that ITI could be classified as Defence PSU, and that DRDO too had echoed the view. However, the DDP had not favoured the proposal on the ground that it would not “facilitate” Defence orders for ITI, given that the PSUs have to compete with private players for getting contracts.