Mumbai: India’s largest engineering and construction company, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T), believes that defence can change the fortunes of the company.

L&T, which has interests in businesses ranging from engineering and construction to finance and information technology, is expecting to secure at least ₹ 50,000 crore worth of orders in defence across the four areas of ships, submarines, communications, and guns and armoured vehicles.

“We are chasing a market of over ₹ 80,000 crore and we are hopeful that we will secure at least ₹ 50,000 crore worth of orders," Jayant Patil, senior vice-president (head - defence and aerospace) and member of the board of heavy engineering at L&T, said in an interview.

India has become the world’s fourth largest spender on defence, following a 13.1% increase in its 2016-17 defence budget, according to research firm IHS Inc.

Also see» India jumps to fourth spot in defence spending

Bharat Mandot, co-founder and chief executive of consultancy StelCore Management Services Pvt. Ltd., said there is a distinctive buzz about the “Make in India" initiative across the globe that has created a huge opportunities in the private sector.

“Moreover, the newly announced Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) places the highest preference to a newly incorporated procurement class called ‘Buy Indian-IDDM’, with IDDM denoting Indigenous Designed Developed and Manufactured. This category refers to procurement from an Indian vendor, products that are indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 40% local content, or products having 60% indigenous content if not designed and developed within the country," Mandot said.

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