“THE DRAFT DEFENCE PROCUREMENT POLICY IS A NEW WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE”

In a fireside chat Rajinder Bhatia, President & CEO, Kalyani Group discuss how India could be the next export hub in the world. He also explains how the Indian aerospace and defence sector could be a great contributor to India’s GDP.

- Rahul Kamat

In the last few years, the Kalyani Group has formed joint ventures with Thales, IAI, Arsenal, AMG partners, etc. to mention a few. How are these JVs helping the group’s defence business achieve growth opportunities that they have outlined for the coming years?

Yes, we indeed have several strategic joint ventures and partnerships with global OEM players. And, these joint ventures are mainly addressing certain opportunities in the defence and aerospace sectors. Most of these partnerships are based on what we call ‘buy-and-make’. In such partnerships, we tie-up with global OEM players to bring their products to India so that we can indigenize them as per the requirement. As one of the oldest players in India, our relationship with global OEMs in this category is excellent. Currently, along with our global partners, we are working on developing new edge ammunition and small arms. Meanwhile, just before the Covid pandemic one of our joint ventures received a $100 million order. There are several other opportunities we have addressed including a multi-billion-dollar opportunity in the CIWS space. As we go forward, we are very confident more and more such opportunities will come our way.

Does Bharat Forge collaborate only with global players or do you also get domestic players onboard while fulfilling domestic orders?