Strategic partnership to help attract FDI in defence: Jaitley

Arun Jaitley. ANI file

New Delhi, June 1

The strategic partnership policy in defence will help attract FDI as global investors would be assured of orders, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.He said unless the opening of the FDI rules is accompanied by some reasonable possibility of getting orders, an investor is not going to set up an establishment in the country.Entry of foreign investors “is linked to the kind of orders they will get and the only entity which can place the orders is the Government of India.“There are no two procurers, there is only one and that is why the strategic partner policy now has been brought in as it will supplement the FDI policy,” he said when asked about the reasons of poor response of investors in the sector.Whether the strategic partner comes through FDI route or the investor comes with just a technology tie-up, they would be free to do so, he added.Seen as a major initiative, the ‘strategic partnership model’ aims to create a vibrant defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country through involvement of both the major Indian corporates as well as the MSME sector.Under the policy, select private firms will be roped in to build military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign entities.In 2016, the government relaxed FDI norms in several sectors, including defence. India imports 70 per cent of its military hardware from different countries.As per the policy, foreign investment up to 49 per cent has been permitted in the defence sector through automatic route, and beyond that limit through government route on case-to-case basis, wherever it is likely to result in access to modern and state-of-art technology.The minister stated that the FDI changes in the sector opened the door and effort is to encourage them to set up facilities in the country.“They are enabling. They themselves do not ensure that immediately the entry of participants will take place and the reason is very simple that there is only one purchaser within India and that’s the Government of India,” he said.Talking about the procurement proposals, Jaitley said that under the Defence Procurement Policy, a particular mechanism is there by which decisions are being taken.“The manner in which the proposals have been cleared by the defence acquisition council over the last three years is unprecedented when you compare it with the inaction during the previous regime,” he added.During April 2000 and March this year, defence sector has attracted FDI worth only USD 5.12 million (Rs 25.49 crore). PTI

Jaitley accuses Pak of scuttling environment for talks

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley claimed that while India had taken several significant steps to ease tensions in the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan responded with terror attacks at Pathankot, Uri and mutilating Indian soldiers. PTI file photo

New Delhi, June 1

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused Pakistan of scuttling the environment that must exist for bilateral talks between the two neighbours even as he asserted that Kashmir situation was better than it was being perceived.

He further said that while India had taken several significant steps to ease tensions, Pakistan responded with terror attacks at Pathankot, Uri and mutilating the bodies of Indian soldiers.

“The Government of India has taken significant steps to ease the situation in the past… The fact that our Prime Minister dropped in at Lahore at a social function in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family — steps intended to ease the tension.”

“But each one of these have been responded by, let us say, a Pathankot or a Uri or by mutilation of two of our soldiers. And, therefore, that environment which must exist for a talk has been successfully prevented by Pakistan,” Jaitley said, addressing the press as Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked three years of being in power at the Centre. Jaitley said the Indian Army and the BSF were “dominating” the Line of Control (LoC) regardless of where the troubles are being created by foreign insurgents or domestic terrorists.

“The security forces have been able to build up a lot of pressure on them, and the results, some of which are evident almost on a daily basis… The situation in Kashmir is better than the impression,” he said.

The Indian Army had last week said it launched “punitive fire assaults” on Pakistani positions across the LoC, inflicting “some damage”, days after two of Indian soldiers were beheaded.

Read more: J&K: Two militants killed in Sopore gunfight Labourer killed, two injured as Pak troops shell LoC posts in J&K Infiltration from Pakistan came down post surgical strikes: Rajnath Jaitley accuses Pak of scuttling environment for talks

It had also released a video of the military action, which showed some structures in a forested area crumbling in a heap under the impact of repeated shelling.

Admitting that the situation in challenging in South Kashmir, he said it is normal in the rest of the state and recently the two-day meeting of the GST Council was held in Srinagar. — PTI