Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday approved an over two-fold increase in financial powers for field commanders to strengthen operational efficiency and ensure faster conclusion of contracts as well as execution of projects.
Special financial powers delegated to the commanders of Indian Army, Air Force and Indian Navy have been enhanced significantly along with a 100 per cent increase in the total ceiling provided to meet urgent operational requirements, the defence ministry said.
It is learnt that the financial powers of the field commanders have been enhanced to Rs 100 crore per project from Rs 40 crore. The existing ceiling of Rs 75 crore per project for service chiefs has been enhanced to around 150 crore.
In addition to the enhancement in financial powers, new provisions have been included to promote joint service procurement by the lead service with higher delegation than the normal procurement, the ministry said.
"Many new Competent Financial Authorities have been introduced to decentralise the procurement of goods and services," it said.
Defence Minister Singh released a revised manual for 'Delegation of Financial Powers for the Defence Services' at an event in New Delhi.
"The enhancement in the financial powers has been made up to 100 per cent, and even more than double in some cases. This would further strengthen the operational efficiency of field commanders, and lead to faster conclusion of contracts and execution of projects," the ministry said.
It said the financial powers delegated for indigenisation and research and development within the military ecosystem have been doubled to boost 'Aatmanirbharta' (self-reliance) in defence by minimising the dependency on foreign original equipment manufacturers.
The revised delegation of financial powers will facilitate procurement of more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore through the revenue route, as per current year budgetary allocations, the ministry said.
Financial powers were last notified in 2021. The revision was necessitated due to the expansion in force level and to cater to the increased expenditure on operations and sustenance vis-a-vis the increase in budgetary allocation, the ministry said.
This revised delegation in financial powers, along with the revised Defence Procurement Manual will give a fillip to defence procurement with expeditious decision making, it noted.
This will lead to timely availability of resources as per the needs of the defence forces, the ministry added in a statement.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen N S Raja Subramani, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Navy Chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh were present at the event.
