New Delhi : The Federation of MSME Vendors and Defence and Aerospace on Wednesday alleged that ordnance factories supplying vital defence equipment, including guns, to the armed forces had cancelled orders worth thousands of crores placed with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
The move, the federation alleged, would lead to huge losses and large-scale entrenchment of workers.
Addressing a press conference here, Neeraj Raizada, the federation’s president, also claimed that the government had slashed the budget of the MSMEs from Rs 16,000 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 10,000 crore in 2018-19.
The federation hinted that the MSMEs could be replaced by foreign suppliers, reports PTI.
The charges come in the backdrop of a parliamentary panel’s findings that the three services were reeling under severe shortage of funds, a charge Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected on Tuesday.
The ordnance factories manufacture vital defence equipment and supply weapons to not only the three armed forces, but also to the paramilitary forces.