The “Make in India” has become a buzzword for countries seeking a bigger pie of the Indian market seeking multi-billion dollars of technology-savvy investment.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is taking a calculated approach to accepting offers as it is still in the midst of tackling corruption involving some international corporations, some of which are blacklisted.
The “Make in India” was a pleasant business buzzword at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, where usually, and this time again, territorial disputes escalating into wars, increasing terrorism and security are are heatedly debated.
American defense secretary Ash Carter revealed that Washington was “working hard” on changing India’s status in the Export Control System as it sought a “technology handshake”.
Speaking at the Dialogue on June 4, Carter said the United States and India are committed, as part of “our growing security coverage, to co-development and co-production of military capabilities”.
“That is something we have not had since the birth of the modern Indian state, and we had two systems which grew up apart and we are trying to bring them together – that would be very productive thing to do,” he said.
“We have a large number of projects we are working on together which will be developed and launched in coming months,” elaborated Carter, who had recently visited India’s aircraft carrier.
“Our laboratories are working together on a joint research and development projects, technology, military equipment,” said Carter.
“There are many, many things we are doing together,” he added.
Carter expects the “Make in India” policy and US’ technology policies to come together in the same way that Washington’s “Rebalance” of the power structure in Asia and India’s “Act East” policy have come together.
“There is a lot going on and a lot more will be developing in the policy in the coming weeks and months,” said Carter.
“And there’s also a technological handshake: we’re moving toward deeper and more diverse defense co-development and co-production, including on aircraft carrier design and construction,” said Carter.
India-Singapore
Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar held the inaugural Defense Minister Dialogue (DMD) with his Singapore counterpart Ng Eng Hen, aimed at increasing the scope of defense interaction among the two countries including the industries.
In a wide range of talks on defense cooperation between the two countries, both Parrikar and Ng commended the progress made in bilateral cooperation in defense Research & Development and technology.
Under the India-Singapore Defense Technology Steering Committee, which was set up in October 2006, both sides have undertaken several joint research projects in a wide spectrum of mutually-beneficial areas, and are deepening cooperation in unmanned systems and soldier performance.
Under the “Make in India”, the industry to industry cooperation has already began and it is showing positive response, said Parrikar told reporters after the DMD meeting with Ng.
Both ministers agreed to have more research-oriented projects involving India’s Defense Research and Development Organization and Singapore’s R&D institutes.
Parrikar also met defense ministers from Canada, Japan, Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom and France during the two-day dialogue held June 3-4 in Singapore.
Discussions included modernizing of India military, upgrades of fighter jets and the use of technologies in manufacturing military equipment under the “Make in India” initiative, military observers at the Shangri-La dialogue said.
The international defense industries are offering a wide range of technologies, opening new opportunities for India and foreign investors, said the observers. fii-news.com
