New Delhi. India and South Korea have drawn a forward looking roadmap to take bilateral Defence Industry co-operation to the next level, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told CEOs of Korean and Indian Defence Industries in Seoul, in the presence of Minister of Defence Acquisition and Program Administration, South Korea, Wang Jung-hong.

 

He said the roadmap has listed a number of proposed areas of co-operation in sectors of Land Systems, Aero Systems, Naval Systems, R&D co-operation and collaboration in Testing, Certification and Quality Assurance.

The Minister invited the Korean Industry to explore the feasibility of local production of items, used in main weapon system, imported by Indian Defence PSUs. He proposed setting up of a task force which identifies such items which are economically viable and locally produced in India resulting in reduction of import bill.

 

“India offers tremendous business opportunity to Korean defence industries in India with liberalised licencing 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.

The Minister invited a delegation from Korean Defence Industries to participate in DefExpo 2020 which will be held from February five to eight in Lucknow. He noted the MoU being entered into to facilitate participation of large OEMs, MSMEs and Korean Industries in various Defence Exhibitions in India. “Attractive discounts can also be offered to such companies who come forward to participate in Def Expo 2020”, he said.

 

Singh expressed confidence that India and South Korea will seize the opportunity for a win-win situation by collaboration, cooperation, co-production and co-development. He assured the Korean Industry that the Indian Government will take all necessary steps to facilitate investment and joint ventures.

Secretary (Defence Production) Subhash Chandra, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, Indian Ambassador in South Korea, Sripriya Ranganathan and other senior officials of India and South Korea were present on the occasion.

He assured the South Korean Industry leaders that the Government will facilitate investments in India’s Defence corridors and extend all incentives and concessions as per the policy. He said those companies can have easy access to markets in other countries in the region.

“We are progressing towards becoming a manufacturing hub of defence equipment and investors can use India as a spring board to export defence equipment manufactured in India to various friendly countries in South East Asia, Middle Asia, Middle East Asia, South Asia and Africa”, Singh said.