Six global defence majors, including US giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and European consortium EADS, today offered to invest an estimated $2 billion to $3 billion to revitalise India's defence and aerospace industry.
Under the proposals, which came days after New Delhi unveiled a new investment-friendly weapons procurement policy, the companies offered to pump in more investments, create defence exports and set up weapon-related joint ventures.
Six leading military jets manufacturing firms forwarded proposals for comprehensive participation in the Indian defence industry as part of obligations to meet their defence offsets clause in the estimated $10 billion Indian contract to buy 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft.
Under the country's defence procurement policy, all foreign companies bidding for major Indian defence contracts worth more than Rs 300 crore have to invest 30 to 50 per cent of the order in the Indian defence sector.
The companies which submitted offset investment proposals ranged from American aviation and defence giants like Lockheed Martin and Boeing to European consortium EADS, French fighter maker D'assault, Russian MiG-Mapo corporation and the Swedish company SAAB.
The Lockheed Martin, which is bidding with its F-16 Fighting Falcon for the Indian MMRCA contract, has proposed more investment, manufacturing, export creation and joint development of defence systems.
Its American rival Boeing, a frontline global aviation company, has submitted an industrial participation proposal to the government as part of its offer for the 126 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. "The Boeing Company has been, and will continue to be, a true partner of India," said Chris Chadwick, president of Boeing Military Aircraft.
"To that end, our proposal draws upon the company's vast pool of human talent, technical expertise and aerospace and defence resources, to support both India's defence modernisation drive and to help spur growth of a world-class Indian aerospace industry," he added.
As part of its proposal, Boeing has assembled a line-up that includes the Super Hornet industry supplier team (16 leading aerospace and defence companies with combined revenues of over $454 billion), and Boeing's Indian IP partners (37 public- and private-sector Indian companies).
Earlier this year, Boeing reached an agreement to form a joint venture with Tata Industries Ltd. In December 2007, Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Boeing has also signed an MoU with international engineering firm Larsen & Toubro for joint exploration of business opportunities in the Indian defence market.
