How does a naval spare go from sample to an approved indigenised item?

Most start with a listing: the Navy, a shipyard or a DPSU publishes the item on the SRIJAN portal, or it appears on a Positive Indigenisation List with an indicative timeline for indigenisation. A vendor responds to the Expression of Interest or RFP that the listing organisation publishes on its own website, not to SRIJAN directly, and begins development from there.

For electrical, electronics and weapon equipment and naval stores, DQA(N) is the naval directorate responsible; for marine engineering and hull machinery, DQA(WP) covers the same ground. Both approve the drawings and quality assurance plan for the item, then run inspection and factory acceptance trials against that approved plan before the spare is accepted, whichever directorate the purchase order names.

Yes. DQA(N)'s charter explicitly covers stores procured by the Navy, the Coast Guard and shipyards, and the sixth Positive Indigenisation List, notified 18 August 2026, listed 16 items specifically for the Indian Coast Guard within the same 405-item notification that covered 389 DPSU items. A Coast Guard indigenisation project follows the same DQA(N) quality assurance route as a Navy one.

Once a sample passes inspection against the approved quality assurance plan, procurement moves from the import route to the qualified Indian vendor. DPM 2025 allows assured orders running up to five years and beyond for items developed under indigenisation, with liquidated damages on such contracts capped at 0.1 percent per week. The specific quantity and term are set in the individual contract, not fixed by policy.

Reverse engineering from a physical sample is common precisely because drawings for an old import were often never transferred. The vendor measures the sample, identifies its material and reconstructs the drawing and process the design implies, and that technical package, rather than the sample, is what the naval quality directorate reviews and approves before production begins.