By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
NEW DELHI — Although many Indian defense officials have urged the development of a centralized agency to integrate the logistics structures of the Army, Navy and Air Force, service rivalries and refusal to include private companies in the provision of logistics services have stymied progress.
Ministry of Defence sources said the MoD bureaucracy does not favor expanding access to private companies to cater to the military’s logistics needs, and would rather keep that activity within government-owned entities.
“There is no doubt a crying need for establishing a national or joint military logistics system that will ensure economy as well as efficiency, but organizational politics and lack of firm direction from the top is preventing such a structure from emerging so far,” said Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Army brigadier general and defense analyst.
A senior Army official, however, said the military services favor an expanded corporate presence to provide for logistics needs, and support outsourcing their non-core logistics functions to private-sector companies. The official said the MoD bureaucracy has resisted these steps because of pressure from state-owned defense companies, which enjoy a near monopoly in weapons and equipment production, the official said.
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