US defence firms want control over tech in Make in India plan
US defence firms offering to set up production lines in India to win deals worth billions of dollars want stronger assurances they won’t have to part with proprietary technology, according to a business lobby group’s letter to India’s defence minister.
These companies are also saying they shouldn’t be held liable for defects in products manufactured in collaboration with local partners under PM Narendra Modi’s Make In India’s drive to build a military industrial base.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing are both bidding to supply combat jets to India’s military, which is running short of hundreds of aircraft as it retires Soviet-era MiG planes, and its own threedecade long effort to produce a domestic jet is hobbled by delays.
Lockheed has offered to shift its F-16 production line to India from Fort Worth, Texas, and make it the sole factory worldwide if India orders at least 100 single-engine fighters.
The US firm has picked Tata Advanced Systems as its local partner under the defence ministry’s new Strategic Partnership model under which foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can hold up to a 49% stake in a joint venture with an Indian private firm which will hold the majority of shares.
The US-India Business Council (USIBC) wrote to India’s defence minister last month seeking a guarantee that US firms would retain control over sensitive technology — even as joint venture junior partners.
“Control of proprietary technologies is a major consideration for all companies exploring public and private defence partnerships,” the business lobby said in the August 3 letter.
“To allow foreign OEMs to provide the most advanced technologies, the partnership arrangement between an Indian owned ‘strategic partner’ company and a foreign OEM needs to provide an opportunity for the foreign OEM to retain control over its proprietary technology,” it said.
Technology transfer is at the heart of Modi’s drive to build a domestic industrial base and cut a reliance on imports that has made India the world’s biggest arms importer in recent years.
Modi’s advisers have vowed to change that, insisting on transfer of technology so that critical military equipment are designed and manufactured in India.
Benjamin Schwartz, USIBC’s director for defence and aerospace, said there was a “general desire to see increased clarity” among the companies on several aspects of the Indian policy, including the control of proprietary technologies.
Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan has been booked for allegedly inciting violence following the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Haryana Police said on Tuesday.
The police added her name in FIR number 345 as an accused in connection with the violence that took place in Panchkula on August 25. “She is an accused in the case now,” said Panchkula police commissioner AS Chawla.
Her name has been included in the same FIR in which other Dera functionaries Aditya Insan and Surinder Dhiman, among others, had been booked for allegedly inciting violence and arson, police said.
“Our efforts are on to nab her (Honeypreet),” Haryana DGP B S Sandhu said on Tuesday.
Asked about reports that Honeypreet is in Nepal, the DGP said there was no concrete information in this regard.
“We are verifying each and every information, which we are getting,” the DGP said.
Several teams have been sent to different locations and Haryana Police was also in touch with police of other states to search Honeypreet.
Haryana Police has also been questioning arrested Dera functionaries including Dilawar Insan and Pradeep Goyal to get concrete information about her place of hiding.
Dilawar Insan, a key member of the Dera was arrested from Sonipat while Pradeep, another Dera functionary was nabbed from Udaipur in Rajasthan by Haryana Police.
Police initiated efforts to trace Honeypreet following the questioning of another arrested functionary of the sect Surinder Dhiman Insan in connection with an alleged conspiracy to facilitate Dera chief’s escape after he was convicted for raping two disciples. PTI
HER NAME HAS BEEN INCLUDED IN THE SAME FIR IN WHICH OTHER DERA MEMBERS WERE BOOKED FOR INCITING VIOLENCE AND ARSON