Thanks to the "Make in India" policy, the defence sector has moved from the periphery to the core of manufacturing. As the multi-billion dollar defence market in the world, the country has offered several opportunities for Indian and foreign groups for defence manufacturing.
Coming out strongly in a support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy initiative, top international giants in defence gathered at the "Indian Defence & Aerospace Summit 2017', organised by NewsX and The Sunday Guardian to discuss the policy, expectation and the issue pertaining to India's defence sector.
"We have moved past the initial focus on the offset requirement to manufacturing the major components today. The private sector needs to build up base and become a part of the global supply chain. We have a unique challenge of becoming scalable with respect to the demand, without losing the profits and build up capability", said Abhay Paranjape, Director Business Development, Lockheed Martin.
Paranjape says there are two prospects with big industry players like Tata and Mahindra.
Calling for greater clarity and opening up the defence sector, Abhay said India is moving at a tremendous speed with DPP, but the policies coming out are not being implemented at the same pace which makes the industry anxious.
Jan Widerstrom, Chairman and MD, SAAB India, says the Make in India policy is happening at a successful rate but the issue lies in integrating the operations and maintenance (O&M) into the Indian system and not treat the foreign players as "them and us".
"We need to get away from the discussion of technology transfer to capability transfer. Technology is just a tool, but capability is utmost important", Widerstrom said.
He said his company's vision is to make India a net exporter of fighter jets in future.
Michael Koch, VP, Glaobal Sales and Marketing, Boeing Defence, Space and Security said how India needs to design with respect to threats 20 years from now and the innovation is required at that level.
"The government needs to focus on the execution part. The order cannot sit for years and years and the tenders need to come through the process", said Koch.
Stephane Lavigne, VP, Sales and Marketing, Thales, said how the company expects India becoming self sufficient in this sector but requires patience in the process.
"Aerospace and Defence are very complex industries and Make in India cannot happen overnight for it"," he said.
Citing infrastructure as a challenge, the panel appreciated the joint effort of the state and government in creating a level playing field for private players with introduction of policies and reforms. The gestation might be long but it would happen and happen in a powerful and sustainable way.
It won't be an exaggeration to say that the defence ministry has taken all the right steps to create conducive environment for the industry's growth, as envisaged in the Defence Production Policy.
Given the opportunity, this industry has the potential to become a huge foreign exchange earner and also lead India to its professed goal of self-reliance.
BW Reporters
Naina Sood is a Economics graduate and has done her post graduation in International economics and Trade. She has deep interests in Indian economy and reforms
