Aero India 2023: Rajnath Singh hardsells India advantage for defence sector to global OEM CEOs

Bengaluru: Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday listed competitive land costs, skilled human capital, a vibrant start-up ecosystem and a huge domestic defence market among the advantages that India offers the global defence industry. Singh was interacting with the CEOs of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on the sidelines of the 14th edition of Aero India.

He described it as a win-win situation where defence manufacturing companies from across the world can become a part of the Indian growth story.

Rajnath Singh emphasised the importance of the defence sector for India. “Defence production meets the twin goals of becoming self-reliant in a critical sector as well as generating jobs for our people.”

He mentioned the incentives offered by the Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments for investment in Defence Industrial Corridors, Central government policies promoting FDI and defence manufacturing in India, the strong legal system protecting stakeholders’ interests and improvements in ease of doing business.

“There are opportunities to co-develop, co-produce, integrate and strengthen supply chains, from joint ventures, set up manufacturing in India and make for the world,” he said. The CEOs gave their suggestions to facilitate global investment in Indian Defence Manufacturing. Rajnath Singh assured them of government efforts to remove regulatory hurdles for private industry.

The CEOs and senior management of General Atomics, Safran, Boeing, Embraer and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems attended the interaction. Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, DG (Acquisition) Pankaj Agrawal, Additional Secretary, Defence Production T. Natarajan and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence were also present.

–IANS