Funding for desi aircraft carrier tops CCS agenda

India's mission to build its own aircraft carrier has virtually come to a grinding halt, with the defence establishment awaiting allocation of fresh funds to finish the 40,000-tonne warship's construction at Cochin Shipyard.

The approval for the around Rs 19,000 crore Phase-II and III construction of the long-delayed indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), to be christened INS Vikrant, figures among the top agenda items for the new Modi government's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), say sources.

The UPA regime's CCS, in fact, was to take up the case earlier this year, after clearance from the defence and finance ministries, but the final nod failed to materialize. "So, fresh approvals from MoD and MoF are being obtained to take it to the CCS again," said a source.

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