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NEW DELHI (PTI): Aiming to accelerate procurement process in the Indian armed forces, Defence Minister A K Antony has approved a three-fold hike-from Rs 50 crore to Rs 150 crore-in the financial powers of Service headquarters.

The decision was taken on Monday during a security review meeting with the three Service chiefs--Admiral Nirmal Verma, General V K Singh and Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne--during which the Defence Minister also had a detailed review of the current security situation.

Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma was also present in the meeting.

"To accelerate the process of procurement for the armed forces, the Defence Minister on Monday gave his in-principle approval to a three-fold hike in the delegation of financial powers to Service headquarters--from the current Rs 50 crore to Rs 150 crore," a Defence Ministry spokesperson said.

Antony had agreed to provide more financial powers to the three services during the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in April for speedier acquisition of arms and equipment.

Antony had also directed the three services to streamline their acquisition process and fix accountability in case of delays in procurement of critical equipment.

Recently, the Ministry has approved the 15-year Long Term Integrated Perspective Planning (LTIPP) and the 12th Defence Plan which would project requirements of the armed forces to be met through indigenisation and robust involvement of private sector.