Industry bodies prepare for meeting with Defence Ministry

NEW DELHI: Industry bodies have started preparing for a much anticipated meeting with defence minister Arun Jaitley and the defence secretary on Thursday where the government is expected to share details of the strategic partnerships model being evolved to rope in the private sector for big production projects.

A series of meetings were carried out within all industry bodies to draw up a list of representatives and queries have also gone to the defence ministry, requesting for a draft of the SP model plan to share inputs and suggestions.

“A consultation is proposed to be held with the industry on strategic partnerships… the session will be initiated by Defence Secretary and Raksha Mantri will join the consultation for interaction with industry representatives,” an invite sent out by the defence ministry reads.

This will be the first cross-industry interaction with defence minister Arun Jaitley since he took over charge from Manohar Parrikar on the strategic partnerships initiative.

As reported, several of the hurdles to the policy being implemented have now been crossed.

Sources said that almost all major business houses, including Tata, Reliance, L&T, Mahindra and Bharat Forge will attend the meeting scheduled for Thursday. While there is no clarity yet on whether foreign vendors will be able to attend, several major international companies have requested to be included in the process as well.

Major US and European players that are active in India have also made requests to industry houses for inclusion into the Thursday’s consultation, with one senior executive telling ET that their presence and inputs are vital to the strategic partnerships model succeeding in India. It is still unclear whether foreign companies would be allowed to take part in the meeting.

The defence ministry is moving fast on the SP initiative after a deadlock since February 2016. A meeting of the top level defence acquisition committee (DAC) – headed by the defence minister — is also expected to take up the matter for clearance next week.