Airbus not happy with India’s FDI in defence

Airbus not happy with India’s FDI in defence

The global manufacture is eyeing to invest in India as a manufacturing hub.

The Dollar Business Bureau

The global defence manufacturer, Airbus said that the investment in the defence sectors will not see a proper growth until the government clears everything and moves forward on the attainment of projects. The global manufacturer is eyeing to invest in India as a manufacturing hub. They are planning to invest Rs 5,000 crores in the defence sector, which would have a capacity to generate more than 10,000 employment opportunities. However, this would be fortuitous only if India places the order. "Some of the partners that we are working with will need us for a lot before they become the real champions that India has in mind. Fair business means that we need to have levels of control that are appropriate for the risk we are taking. Setting a limit at 49 percent or whatever comes is not going to cut it," said Pierre de Bausset, President of Airbus Group India. Airbus is in discussion with Mahindra group to develop the first privately made helicopter of India. It has also promised that if it would get a helicopter order, then it would also transfer the final assembly of the Panther choppers to India and also build transport planes 40 C295 locally. However, the President did not mention about how much the Airbus wanted the limits to be raised, but the market experts said that they are expecting a cap of 74 percent, which would petition the foreign firms getting more control. This discussion came into picture when India wanted to build a military hardware industry where the foreign direct investment was increased in defence from 26% to 49% in 2016. Airbus said that it is planning to invest $2 billion on civil and defence procurement in India in the next five years. However, they also pointed out that investment only depends on getting more contracts and adapting more FDI. India stands amongst the attractable market for defence from global companies, where the government alteration plans are more than 100 billion dollars.  

March 15, 2016 | 05:00pm IST

The Dollar Business Bureau - Mar 15, 2016 12:00 IST