New Delhi, Sept. 1 -- On 31 August, a Lockheed Martin unit signed a pact with India's Tata Advanced Systems Ltd to make the US's Javelin anti-tank missiles locally. The deal came just two weeks after the defence ministry published its sixth Positive Indigenization List (PIL) seeking to localize over 400 items, including light tanks and electronics, worth over Rs.3,000 crore.

How much, though, is actual local design and geopolitical independence? Mint explains.

The latest PIL is the sixth list issued by the ministry of defence to the country's public sector undertakings (PSU), as well as private defence manufacturers. A note by the department of defence production (DoDP)'s 'Srijan' local procurement platform said on 18 August that India ...