New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's desire to boost domestic defense manufacturing got a fillip today with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. announcing that it will make arms in India with Kalyani Group.
Last year the NDA government raised the foreign direct investment limit in defense to 49 percent from an earlier cap of 26 percent, thus making it easier and more attractive to manufacture in India.
The announcement was made at Aero India 2015 which is currently going on in Bangalore. The 51:49 joint venture (Kalyani group holding 51 per cent) will increase Kalyani group's presence in the defence sector and at the same time reduce India's dependence on imports of defence equipment.
The initiative will develop and manufacture high-end technology systems within country like missile technology, remote weapons system and advanced armour solutions.
“As part of the ‘Make in India' campaign we aim to develop and produce high end technology systems and expand the Defence Industry Base in our country. Our proposed JV with Rafael is a step in this direction,” Baba Kalyani, Chairman, Kalyani Group, said in a statement.
Brig. Gen (Retd), Itzhak Gat, Chairman, Rafael, said, “Rafael has been an active participant in the Indian Defence market for the past few years. As part of our global strategy, we form alliances to develop military applications based on our proprietary technologies and in Kalyani Group we see a lot of synergy and opportunities for growth in new markets and especially in India which is a strategic market for us."
The Pune-based Kalyani Group has forgings major Bharat Forge as its flagship company.
Rafael is Israel's second largest defense company, with 2013 sales of $ 2.047 billion, an order backlog of $4.3 billion and a net profit of $101 million.
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