Korean companies step forward to help indigenise defence products
The South Korean Defence Minister Suh Wook has assured to scale up cooperation in commerce as well as defence sector between his country and India.
“The Korea Government and companies are proactively looking at defence cooperation and I hope that these industry meeting would be beneficial on affirming India’s defence-friendly environment,” he said at the ‘Indian Defence Industry Interaction with Minister of National Defence, Republic of Korea’ event organized by FICCI, jointly with the Department of Defence Production and Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
“This would be an opportunity for defence bilateral relations to elevate to next level as industry-to-industry interactions between India and Korea are on a rise and both nations have agreed to intensify defence cooperation under co-chaired meeting,” the Minister said on 26 Mar 2021.
All major Korean defence and ship building companies have shown interest in Indian Defence Acquisition program with increasing interaction on industry to industry basis between India and South Korea, according to Raj Kumar, Secretary Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
Giving assessment the event, he remarked that it is heartening to note the interest in cooperation between the two countries. “Industry to industry interactions between both the two countries are on the rise and we expect it to further rise in future with our joint efforts.
“Collaboration between Korean and Indian companies has already started carving out success stories and (we are) hopeful that more success stories will be emulated in the future.”
Said Kumar, “A good number of Korean companies have come forward to assist in indigenising these items by the Indian companies.” This follows the Indian Government’s decision to produce 101 defence products under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. These products were earlier imported.
He also pointed out the Government’s two important steps taken recently. These are allowing FDI in defence sector up to 74%, up from earlier 49% under the automated route, and the two dedicated defence industrial corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh which will provide highly conducive eco-system for investment with attractive set of incentives.
“I would invite the Korean defence industry to take advantage of these investor-friendly initiatives by investing in these corridors. The Government is committed to a comprehensive partnership with the Republic of Korea in defence cooperation and also for enhanced industrial defence cooperation in the near future by participation of Korean companies in India’s Make in India campaign,” Kumar underlined.
He elaborated, “It is of paramount importance that both the nations have further agreed to intensify defence cooperation under the Joint Committee Meeting (JCM). We are looking to elevate our defence trade from a traditional buyer-seller mechanism to one that of co-production and co-development.
“Under the JCM, an industry cooperation sub-group has also been proposed with a purpose to develop sustained dialogue between the defence industry of both the nations. This sub-committee will play a pivotal role in fastening the partnerships between the defence industries in future,” said Kumar.
The true potential of cooperation lies in the two countries’ defence and security domain, added Arun T. Ramchandani, Co-Chairman, FICCI Defence & Aerospace Committee and EVP, Guns Missiles & Armoured Systems (GMA) BU, L&T Defence.
“India offers tremendous business opportunity to Korean defence industries with liberalized licensing regime, attractive FDI provisions, strong and skilled industrial work force, single window clearances and establishment of Defence Investor Cell to facilitate investors and various other industry friendly initiatives,” he said. #defence #manufacturing #investment #exports /fiinews.com
