‘Tech Transfer Will Be The Key To India’s Defence Market’

NEW DELHI: Rapidly changing geopolitics has had a welcome fallout for India in at least one respect: the apparent willingness of some of the world’s defence hardware majors to transfer key technologies to India. This could be the case with jet engines given reports that the government has told France’s Safran and GE of the US that if they want to do business in India, it can’t be as usual!

In this conversation on StratNewsGlobal, Nitin Gokhale, Editor in Chief of StratNewsGlobal, points out that successive Indian lists banning the import of weapons and platforms have underscored what India wants and what it will do to get that. So while jet engine technology is a must have, India is also looking at gas turbines for ships, unmanned aerial systems including counter drone systems and a lot else.

Building the capabilities of India’s private industry is also seen as critical, so in a range of areas the focus is on bringing in the private sector. Key sectors in which the public sector has a presence will also be used but the future is clear: only the private sector can bring in the kind of efficiencies the government wants. Also, the government is willing to step in with financing for R&D.

Tune in for more in this conversation with Nitin Gokhale.