Govt committed towards comprehensive partnership with Korea in defence cooperation: Secretary Defence Production

Mar 26, 2021

Opportunity for India-Korea defence bilateral relations to elevate to next level as industry-to-industry

interactions are increasing: Minister of National Defence, Republic of Korea

NEW DELHI, 26 March 2021: Mr Raj Kumar, Secretary Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Govt of India today said that it is heartening to note that all major Korean defence and ship building companies have shown interest in Indian Defence Acquisition program. Industry to industry interactions between both the countries are on the rise and we expect it to further rise in future with our joint efforts. "Collaboration of Korean companies with Indian companies has already started carving out success stories and hopeful that more success stories will be emulated in the future," he added.

Addressing the 'Indian Defence Industry Interaction with Minister of National Defence, Republic of Korea', organized by FICCI, jointly with the Department of Defence Production and Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Mr Kumar said that the government of India has already announced a list of 101 defence products to be produced in India under the Make in India initiative which were earlier imported. "A good number of Korean companies have come forward to assist in indigenizing these items by the Indian companies," he noted.

Mr Kumar also said that under the Atmanirbhar Bharat program, the government has also taken up two important steps which include opening up of FDI in defence sector up to 74 percent from earlier 49 percent, under the automated route. The second includes setting up of two dedicated defence industrial corridors in Tamil Nadu and UP which will provide highly conducive eco-system for investment with attractive set of incentives.

"I would invite the Korean defence industry to take advantage of these investor friendly initiatives by investing in these corridors. The government of India commits towards a comprehensive partnership with the Republic of Korea in defence cooperation and also for enhanced industrial defence cooperation in the near future by participation of Korean companies in India's Make in India campaign," Mr Kumar emphasized.

He further stated that it is of paramount importance that both the nations have further agreed to intensify defence cooperation under the Joint Committee Meeting (JCM). We are looking to elevate our defence trade from a traditional buyer-seller mechanism to one that of co-production and co-development. "Under the JCM, an industry cooperation sub-group has also been proposed with a purpose to develop sustained dialogue between the defence industry of both the nations. This sub-committee will play a pivotal role in fastening the partnerships between the defence industries in future," added Mr Kumar.

HE Mr Suh Wook, Minister of National Defence, Republic of Korea said that our countries have agreed to scale up cooperation in commerce as well as defence sector. "The government and companies are proactively looking at defence cooperation and I hope that theses industry meeting would be beneficial on affirming India's defence friendly environment. This would be an opportunity for defence bilateral relations to elevate to next level as industry-to-industry interactions between India and Korea are on a rise and both nations have agreed to intensify defence cooperation under co-chaired meeting."

Mr Arun T Ramchandani, Co-Chairman, FICCI Defence & Aerospace Committee and EVP, Guns Missiles & Armoured Systems (GMA) BU, L&T Defence said the true potential of our cooperation lies in defence and security domain. "India offers tremendous business opportunity to Korean defence industries in India with liberalized licensing 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 added.