India's defence minister Rajnath Singh, who delivered the keynote address at the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) conclave organized as part of Aero India 2021 in Bengaluru, reiterated that India was ready to supply weapons to countries in the region. Singh said as the largest nation in IOR - with a vast coastline of 7,500km - India has an active role to play for peaceful and prosperous coexistence of all countries. “Indian Ocean is a shared asset and a lifeline for international trade and transport due to its control of major sea lanes carrying half of the world’s container ships, one third of its bulk cargo traffic and two-third of its oil shipments,” he said.
The defence minister added that the conclave is reflective of the importance India attaches to the vision of common growth and stability, and constructive engagements with partner countries.
He said efforts are on to synergise resources in IOR, including defence industrial cooperation. Many IOR countries are becoming globally competitive and developing new technologies, including defence shipyards for design and shipbuilding, which can be jointly harnessed through regional cooperation efforts.
He said the Indian aerospace and defence industries present an attractive opportunity for foreign companies and the country was ready to supply different types of missile systems, helicopters, warships, patrol vessels, guns, tanks and radars.
Govt plans to cut def imports
Rajnath Singh said with an aim of encouraging the manufacture of defence related items in the country, the government's endeavour is also to bring down its defence imports by at least USD two billion by 2022. He also said the aerospace sector has an important role to play, if India has to reach its targets of domestic defence production of USD 25 billion and exports of USD five billion by 2025. “With an aim of encouraging the manufacture of defence related items in India, our endeavour will remain to bring down defence imports by at least USD 2 billion by 2022. Between 2016 and 2019, as many as 138 proposals worth over USD 37 billion for domestic manufacturing have been approved," Singh said.
India can’t depend on others
Rajnath Singh said that India cannot remain dependent on other countries for its defence and that the indigenously developed Tejas was better than its foreign equivalents on several parameters and also comparatively cheaper. Under the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, India is looking forward to increase its defence manufacturing capabilities, said Singh, who inaugurated Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's second LCA-Tejas production plant in Bengaluru. Singh said Tejas is not only indigenous, but better than its foreign equivalents on several parameters and also comparatively cheaper. Many countries have shown interest in Tejas.
