Business
Anil Ambani to outline plans for defence foray at Aero Show
Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani is expected to outline his group's
plans for a foray into defence equipment manufacturing sector at a chief
executive's forum meet called by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at
the Aero India show in Bangalore next week, according to company
sources.
"The 'Make in India' initiative of the government
provides a perfect landscape for setting up of a comprehensive defence
industrial base in the country," Ambani said about the latest foray.
"The Reliance Group is committed to contribute significantly to this
initiative," he said.
"We would endeavour to bring world class
technologies to India and create skill sets within the country to
deliver top end platforms for our Armed Forces, cut down on import of
defence products and create high skill jobs," he added.
"The
government's policy of self-reliance in defence equipment manufacturing
and the opening up of the sector to private investment has thrown up an
immense opportunity. Our chairman is likely to speak about this at the
Aero Show," a company source said.
"The defence minister has
called a meeting of around 17-18 chief executives on Feb 18 -- the
inaugural day of the show. Our chairman has been invited. Some of his
plans will be unveiled at that meeting," the source told IANS.
Reliance
Infrastructure also informed the stock exchanges Thursday that it has
formed three wholly-owned subsidiaries -- Reliance Defence Systems,
Reliance Defence Technologies and Reliance Defence Aerospace to pursue
growth opportunities in the defence sector.
The group intends to
explore opportunities in all the three wings of the armed forces,
notably on the naval platform, air mobility, avionics and network
centric warfare, company officials said. The former India chief of
Lockheed Martin, Rajesh Dhingr, will lead this initiative.
"In
fact, talks have already started with potential foreign collaborators
for tie-ups. Some key acquisitions are also not ruled out in the
inorganic space."
The announcement also had an immediate impact
on the company's stocks, which were trading more than 3.5 percent higher
at around Rs.440 around noon.
A part of the larger 'Make in
India' programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defence ministry
officials explained that the government wants to encourage domestic
production of equipment, as 60 percent of the capital requiremrnt is met
by way of imports.
The allocation for defence sector in the
current national budget was $37.3 billion and it has been officially
estimated that an investment of over $4 billion will be needed in
seven-eight years from domestic and overseas sources.