GST on only two items will come down from 28% to 12% from November 15 and they are: Wet grinders consisting of stone as grinder and tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. The inclusion of tanks in the list has raised eyebrows, first because India depends heavily on tanks from abroad and also because as part of ‘Make in India’ programme, several private sector companies have set up joint ventures to manufacture military equipment and armoured vehicles like tanks in India.

As much as 60 per cent of the tanks manufactured globally are said to be in use in China, India and Pakistan. India is said to have 1,600 T-90s , 2400 T-72s and just about 118 indigenously made Arjuns.

The decision is also significant because the defence ministry in September issued a global request for information on FRCV (Future Ready Combat Vehicles) and indicated that it was looking at supply of 1,700 such vehicles. FRCVs are new generation, state of the art tanks.

Experts believe it is a signal that India is moving away from indigenous tank projects, Arjun Mark 1 and Arjun Mark-2 promoted by the DRDO and manufactured by PSUs.

Several private sector companies including Tata Motors are eying the ₹60,000 Crore contract, suggest media reports.

Defence analyst Ajai Shukla on Saturday tweeted: