India wants to be manufacturing base, not importer, of defence equipment

[CONNAN]

Bangalore, Feb. 18 (PTI): India wants to be a leading production base for defence equipment and not its top importer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told foreign companies gathered here for an aviation and aerospace exhibition.

Inaugurating the Aero India air show, Prime Minister said the country needs to increase its defence preparedness and modernise its forces and invited foreign firms to become India's strategic partners rather than remaining just sellers.

He said government's focus is to reduce imports and develop domestic defence industry with a sense of mission that it “is at the heart of our Make in India programme”.

”We will build an industry that will have room for everyone - public sector, private sector and foreign firms,” he said, adding the intention of the government was to develop a dynamic defence industry.

The Prime Minister told the participating overseas delegations that for too many of them India is a major business opportunity with the reputation as the largest importer of defence equipment in the world.

”That may be music to the ears of some of you here but this is one area where we would not like to be number one,” Modi said at the biennial event, being attended by more than 250 Indian companies and 300 foreign firms.

Modi said a strong defence industry would not only make the country more secure but also make it more prosperous.

”We must ensure that our tax system does not discriminate against domestic manufacture in comparison to imports,” he said at Asia's premier air show at the Indian Air Force Yelahanka air base on the outskirts of the city.

The Prime Minister said India's defence industry will succeed more “if we can transform the manufacturing sector in the country”.

Modi said a nation with the strong defence industry would not only be more secure, it would also reap economic benefits, boost investment, expand manufacturing, support enterprise, raise the technology level and increase economic growth in the country.

In India, the defence industry in the government sector alone employs nearly 200,000 workers and thousands of engineers, he said.

Stressing the need for reducing imports, Modi said, ”If we could raise percentage of domestic procurement from 40 per cent to 70 per cent in next five years, we would double the output in our defence industry”.

He also said studies have shown that even a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in imports could directly create 100,000 to 120,000 highly skilled jobs in the country.

Defence Ministers, senior officials, and hundreds of business leaders from around the world are also in attendance at the largest ever Aero India, where the Modi government's “Make in India” programme is in the spotlight.

”Aero India can be a catalyst in realizing our goals. That is why I am here today,” he said.

”For me this is not just a trade fair for defence equipment. This is a mega meeting of one of the largest global supply chains with the most advanced technologies and complex equipments and a platform to launch India's defence manufacturing sector,” he said.

Foreign firms are vying with one another to align with the “Make in India” campaign of the Narendra Modi government as they eye the booming multi-billion dollar Indian defence market.

The 10th international edition of the aerospace and aviation exhibition has participation of 54 ministerial and other high-level delegations from several countries. Over 600 companies, including 295 Indian and 328 foreign companies, are taking part.

The United States with 64 companies has the biggest presence at the event, said to be the largest ever air show to be hosted so far in India, in which 33 other countries are taking part.

France is the second biggest participant with 58 companies, followed by the United Kingdom with 48, Russia with 41, Israel with 25 and Germany with 17, organisers said.

The Indian Air Force Sarang Team and air display teams from Sweden, UK, Czech Republic and open sky jump by USA Special Forces are among the top draws at the event.

Seven of the 11 foreign military aircraft on display are American - two F-15C Eagles, two F-16C Fighting Falcons, one Boeing KC-135 tanker, one C-17 Globemaster III and a P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft.

Three Rafale fighters of French giant Dassault - shortlisted for acquisition by the IAF - will fly aerobatics displays.

India wants to be manufacturing base, not importer, of defence equipment

 

[sancho]

India wants to be a leading production base for defence equipment and not its top importer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told foreign companies gathered here for an aviation and aerospace exhibition.

Honestly, who does he try to fool here? As if a foreign helicopter produced in India would not be imported!

 

[protest]

Honestly, who does he try to fool here? As if a foreign helicopter produced in India would not be imported!

Initially may be but that in itself could bring more R&D later on. Had we thought the same with IT, could we have been where we are today? Because when IT came to India there were hardly any internet connections in India except for universities and corporates. But Now? So I am hopeful.

 

[sancho]

Initially may be but that in itself could bring more R&D later on. Had we thought the same with IT, could we have been where we are today?

The IT success of India has 2 sides, once the low end, with the number of call centers, that were outsourced to India from foreign countries to safe costs. But that is basic work, with basic IT know how required, just as basic production of defence parts in India, only aims at cost reduction for the foreign companies and low end jobs in India.
The other side of the IT success came from the huge ammount of well educated and trained IT engineers, that already had the know how to work either in the growing Indian IT sector or that simply went abroad to join world class foreign IT companies. So we had the know how and the workers and the Indian IT sector invested to gain from the potential, which however is not the case so far in the Indian defence sector. We have a lot of engineers, but far too little investments of the privat industry to actually use them for the "development" of Indian defence products. That's still largely dependent on state owned companies and where we still lack the know how in India, but production of basic parts won't increase the know how. We need proper R&D in India, be it with foreign partners, or by teaming up state owned and privat industry together, only that will make us self-reliant and not claiming that we are not an importer only because we produce the foreign product in India.

 

[Turingsage]

You CANNOT build a indigineous defence industry without the horrendous rules regulations and red tape being discarded. You START by making the millions of building blocks that go into a product, while allowing foreign manufacturers FULL unhindered ability to manufacture in India. ( They will employ an Indian workforce which will earn and learn what defence production is all about forming their own supply chain if they are smart enough )
Indian SME's then will supply to these LSM when they can COMPETE with foreign SME's in providing basic substructures. The foreign companies will CHOOSE Indian suppliers when the quality and price is right.
Rules about 51% govt ownership etc etc are as outdated as the 19th century from which the Indian govt hasn't moved on.
Indian govt is still trying to run a globalised knowledge based Industry on the the same lines as the British Raj.
The Indian govt still acts as the inheritors of the British Raj and cannot let go of the command and control idiocy from the 19th century