Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said there was a growing interest among various countries in the Indian missiles and the government wanted to sell them to friendly nations.
“The interest in Indian missiles is definitely growing and we are addressing it,” she said. Countries like Vietnam were keen on buying the supersonic BrahMos missile from India.
Citing negotiations over aspects like cost, she said that arriving at a decision on a deal was at times “frustrating”, but the interest in the Indian missiles is “sustained”.
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Ms. Sitharaman was speaking at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
To speak to defence attachés in missions
The Minister said she would address the defence attachés posted in Indian missions abroad to encourage them to market the capabilities of the Indian manufacturing experts.
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The missions and embassies of all nations have a defence attache, usually a senior armed forces official to take care of his country’s defence needs with the nation he was posted in. Similar was the case with India.
“I am not asking them to be marketing experts but they should be able to talk a lot on what India’s defence manufacturers are doing to enhance the capacity of the country’s armed forces,” she said.
This would create an interest among various countries about the abilities of Indian defence equipment manufacturers and “in a way sell India without being marketing experts,” she said.
“Defence attaches should not only identify those defence procurement for us to buy but [they should] also be able to speak about what we are producing so that the nations outside can look at India as a producer’s market also, rather than a buyer’s market,” she observed.
Cumbersome nature of procurement process
Pointing to the cumbersome and time-consuming nature of the procurement process, the Minister said by the time a decision for procurement was finalised, there is little fund left to buy the equipment.
The Minister said she was talking to the Finance Commission to ensure that defence procurement funding, particularly the capital expenditure, became “non-lapsable” and stayed alive even after a certain cycle.
In bilateral talks with all the countries India purchased equipment from, emphasis was given on indigenisation to ensure production of the items within the country, she noted.