New Delhi: Projecting itself as a manufacturing hub of military equipment, India on Tuesday asked Germany to invest here as in Berlin. doubles its defense budget Ukraine after years of peace in Europe because of the war.
Sources in the defense and security establishment told ThePrint that Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, in his talks with his visiting German counterpart Boris Pistorius also underlined the need to avoid transferring any critical defense equipment to Pakistan.
Pistorius, Defense Minister of Germany, is on a four-day visit to India.
Sources said Germany also discussed Indian Navy’s Project 75 India (P75I) under which six conventional submarines are to be built under the strategic partnership.
While South Korea and Spain are also in the race, German shipbuilding company Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which has a tie-up with the state-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) shipyard, is leading the way. Sources said MDL has time till August this year to bid for the project.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued after the meeting, the Defense Ministry said about the two leaders Reviewed ongoing bilateral defense cooperation activities and explored ways to enhance cooperation – especially defense industrial partnership.
Rajnath said in the statement that opportunities are open in India’s defense production sector – including the potential for German investment in two defense industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – and that the country’s defense industry can participate in German supply chains . Value addition to the ecosystem besides contributing to the defense industry and supply chain resilience.
The Defense Minister also emphasized to his German counterpart that the two countries can build a more symbiotic relationship based on the complementarity of shared goals and strengths – namely skilled workforce and cost competitiveness from India and high technology and investment from Germany.
Sources told ThePrint that Germany has put a renewed emphasis on defense after the Russia-Ukraine war and there is a need to build up defense systems.
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in parliament after the start of the Ukraine war He The invasion of Russia was “a turning point in the history of the continent”.
A source said, “India has told the Germans that they are welcome to set up factories in India and export it back to their country, even if they are not selling to India.” The flexibility of the supply chain has been broken due to the situation in Ukraine.
A source said the message was to “look to India for production, draw and invest in its defense corridors and shy away from unreliable and difficult options like China”.
India also asked Germany to treat India as a responsible and privileged partner and invited it to set up a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub for the RENK Group, a German company whose parts are based here in several countries. Used in defense systems.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)