A West Zone Defence Industry Meet on the theme 'Quality Equipment in Time' was organised by the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence on December 14, 2023 in Vadodara. In the meet, a series of new initiatives of the Ministry of Defence to streamline the Defence production and Quality Assurance processes were explained to the various stakeholders, in keeping with the Government of India’s vision of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and ‘Make in India’ in the Defence manufacturing sector. Additional Secretary (Defence Production) T. Natarajan, addressed the defence industry meet, which was presided over by Director General, DGQA Lt General R.S. Reen.

T. Natarajan in his address said that reforms like ‘Green Channel’ and ‘Self Certification’ schemes have offered greater autonomy to Defence manufacturers. “Additionally, ‘Remote QA Inspection’, Defence Export Promotion Scheme and Defence Testing and Infrastructure Scheme, are aimed to catalyse the indigenous production. These schemes will enable expeditious delivery of critical defence equipment by the Indian Defence manufacturers,” he added.

On the occasion, the Green Channel certification was awarded to L&T, Mumbai. Representatives of the Defence Industries, and senior officers of the Naval QA organisation and Indian Army at Vadodara participated in the event. A compendium of Technical papers on QA was also released during the meet.