In a bid to strengthen the country's defence sector,
officials from Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry are scheduled
to meet U.S. Department of Commerce to discuss adaptation of
technologies from the latter for prevention of corrosion and maintenance of equipment standards for the defence sector.
India loses billions of dollars every year on corrosion cost and
defence sector is one of the contributors along with shipping, heavy
industries and petroleum among others.
The first round table meeting which will be co-chaired by the US
Assistant Joint Secretary Arun Kumar, being set up on Friday is part of
the U.S.-India commercial dialogue 2014-2016 term agreed upon when Prime
Minister Narendra Modi visited US President Barack Obama in September. From India, Ms Mugdha Sinha, director IAS, Ministry of Commerce will be at the round table meet.
"Since the discussions are at ministry level, private sector is not
involved. Officials of the two government are looking at exchanging
information on corrosion issues India is facing in the defence sector
and they will try to see if they (both ministries) can work together on
the policy level," Samir Degan, chairman, NACE Gateway of India told
Business Standard.
US-headquartered NACE International, which is facilitating this event,
is recognized globally as the premier authority for corrosion control
solutions. The company is present in India as NACE Gateway of India.
Along with several other points chalked out for discussion, issues such
as disjointedness of corrosion standards in the country's defence
sector and adaptation to more mature corrosion technologies of the US
would be some of the key topics.
"So at the government-to-government level, they would discuss that US
companies come here, work here and get revenue and we (Indian companies)
get the needed technology fillip," said a source close to the
development.
This also hints at a step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make
in India" dream, where the domestic private sector can be encouraged to
acquire technology from foreign companies and set up joint ventures in
India.
Since the last few months, the government seems to be taking several
steps towards strengthening the country's defence sector. Apart from
newly appointed Defence Minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar,
the government recently cleared defence projects worth Rs 80,000 crore
as India currently imports nearly 70% of its military hardware. Also, in
August, the Cabinet has raised foreign limit for investment to 49% from
the current 26% in the defence sector, which would encourage domestic
manufacture of arms.
