Giving Them Wings To Fly

Global defence contractors and local manufacturers are enthused by the business opportunities provided by the Make in India campaign. The enthusiasm has begun to translate into making India a hub for defence manufacturing.

- Ashish Sinha

THE TWO KEY takeaways from the recent visit of defence minister Manohar Parrikar to the US are the signing of the bilateral Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the elevation of India as a ‘major defence partner’. Both these measures are part of the 28-months of sustained efforts by the NDA government to boost India’s defence capabilities after being voted to power. While LEMOA allows the militaries of both India and the US to access each other’s facilities for supplies and repairs, the designation of major defence partners allows defence trade and technology- sharing of a higher grade, Ash Carter, US defence secretary said after signing the agreement with Parrikar. With this agreement, India becomes an even closer ally of the US thereby giving a new vigour to the defence contractors and hardware manufacturers in both countries just as in the recent past when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited France and the United Kingdom.

And that is the reason global devgence contractors such as Thales from France, look head Martin from the United States, BAE Systems from United Kingdom and several others have extended their whole hearted support to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government, particularly in the defence sector, that talks of greater emphasis on local sourcing and local manufacturing and enhanced limit of foreign direct investments. And why not? After all, India is the world’s largest importer of defence equipment; it spends around $24 billion a year on defence equipment. As a result, several giant defence contractors have renewed their interest and participation in the defence requirements of India which is beginning to translate into the order books of the small and medium enterprises engaged in manufacturing of components for the Indian defence forces.