Why it makes sense to make defence equipment in India at higher cost tha...

So is the policy good enough in its current form? “This policy will slowly but surely get refined. But, if we don’t roll it out today, we will keep waiting and this will also have a negative impact on the armed forces. Their programmes and demands will get delayed, which is something that India as a nation should avoid. The private sector would have wanted some changes, they would not want to be restricted to one programme, but then with the equipment that we need and the time that we have, we feel this is a good solution,” he says.

And, when will the armed forces get the weapons? “Let me give you a realistic example. Today, if India were to not implement the strategic partnership policy, and right now we sign up for a programme with a foreign OEM, the earliest the arrival of the first platform into the armed forces will not be before 3-4 years. This is not a time delay, but a characteristic of the sector. Now let’s say that with the strategic partnership model, a pool (Indian and foreign) is optimistically created by the first quarter of next year. Post that a tender will be released and a contract could potentially be signed within the next 2.5 to 3 years. Then the production facilities will need to be set up, however it may well be possible that the initial lot of platforms come in a fully finished condition from abroad, while the facilities are being set up here. So we should see action on the ground in 36 to 48 months,” he concludes.