Defence ministry waives off quality assurance charges

New Delhi: In a significant move to promote reforms and bring ease of doing business, Department of Defence Production under Ministry of Defence has waived off Quality Assurance (QA) charges levied by the QA Agencies under its administrative control for the stores meant for the exports. This industry friendly initiative would make the defence products cost competitive in global market.

The Ministry of Defence provides proof/testing facility to the industry for their products through its various Proof/Testing establishments to make the Indian Defence Products more competitive in the international market. Charges are levied by the QA Agencies as per the fixed rates and the industry adds this charge to the cost of the products which adversely affect its cost competitiveness. But now these charges have been scrapped. 

As per CLAWS, Quality Assurance in defence equipment refers to a programme for the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to ensure that standards of quality are being met.  

The think tank underpins, it is important to realise that quality is determined by the programme sponsor or designer or manufacturer. However, it says, QA cannot absolutely guarantee the production of quality products but makes this more likely, within the laid down and acceptable tolerance levels. 

Two key principles that characterise QA are, "fit for purpose" (the product should be suitable for the intended purpose) and "right first time" (mistakes should be eliminated). QA includes regulation of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components, services related to production and management, production and inspection processes.

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