Rajnath invites S Korean defence manufacturing compes to invest in India

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured the Korean defence industry that the Indian government will take all necessary steps to facilitate investment and joint ventures.

"India offers tremendous business opportunity to Korean defence industries in India with the liberalised licencing regime, attractive FDI provisions, strong and skilled industrial workforce, single-window clearances and establishment of Defence Investor Cell to facilitate investors and various other industry-friendly initiatives," he said while addressing CEOs of Korean and Indian Defence industries in Seoul.

The South Korean Minister of Defence Acquisition and Program Administration, Wang Jung-hong, was also present at the event.

Singh also invited a delegation from the Korean defence industry to participate in DefExpo 2020 which will be held from February 5 to February 8, 2020, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

The minister also took note of the MoU being entered into to facilitate the participation of large OEMs, MSMEs, and Korean industries in various defence exhibitions in India. "Attractive discounts can also be offered to such compes who come forward to participate in Def Expo 2020", he added.

Rajnath 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.

He also invited the Korean industry to explore the feasibility of the Indian production of items, used in main weapon system, imported by Indian Defence PSUs.

Singh proposed setting up of a task force which identifies such items which are economically viable and locally produced in India resulting in the reduction of import bill.

"The senior government officials and industry leaders of both sides also held Business-to-Government (B2G) meeting in which they explained various investment opportunities available in defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the upcoming DefExpo 2020," an official release said.

Secretary (Defence Production) Subhash Chandra, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, Indian Ambassador in South Korea, Sripriya Ranganathan and other senior officials of the two countries were also present at the do.

Singh also 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 compes 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 springboard to export defence equipment manufactured in India to various friendly countries in South East Asia, Middle Asia, Middle East Asia, South Asia, and Africa", he added.

The minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the Republic of Korea, Moon Jae-in share a close bond which has infused the relationship with a greater sense of purpose.

"Under its 'Act East Policy', India considers ROK (South Korea) an indispensable partner for co-operation. We are also conscious of the fact that ROK aims to cement its bilateral relations with India further through the "New Southern Policy", he said.

( With inputs from ANI )