In a bid to deepen Indo-Swedish defence and aerospace cooperation, the Government of India has urged Swedish companies to forge large-scale partnerships with Indian manufacturers and reap the ‘early bird’ advantages from the amended defence procurement rules. The policy gives priority to indigenously designed, developed and manufactured defence equipment.

To take the process forward, FICCI in collaboration with SOFF and the Swedish Embassy, organised the India-Sweden Defence & Aerospace Industry seminar on August 31, 2016, which were followed by B2Bs and B2G on September 1, 2016.

While addressing the seminar, Sanjay Garg, Joint Secretary (DIP), Ministry of Defence, the policy focus was not just on pure manufacturing. He said that the Government of India, on its part, in the last two years has approved 85 per cent of the capital acquisition proposals under the new category called ‘Buy Indian–Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured’ (IDDM) and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’.

He said that the time was ripe for Swedish companies to find the right partner from the Indian defence manufacturing industry.

Josa Karre, Counsellor in Embassy of Sweden, in her remarks, pointed out that both Sweden and India have a strong industry base and India had now become an attractive place for investors, adding that “we have the expertise and know-how in the defence and aerospace sector to support your success.”

Ambassador Anders Bengtcen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden, said that there was tremendous scope for collaboration between Swedish and Indian companies in aviation, maritime security and combat training and simulation for army personnel. “Swedish companies are here for a long haul and this was possible because of the trust and reliability that they enjoy,” he added.

Jayant D. Patil, Chairman, FICCI Defence & Aerospace Committee and Senior Vice President and Member of the Board, L&T Heavy Engineering & L&T Shipbuilding; Sudhakar Gande, Vice Chairman, AXISCADES Aerospace & Technologies Ltd and Chairman, FICCI Task Force on Aerospace; and Dr A. Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, shared their perspectives on Indo-Swedish cooperation in defence and aerospace sectors, stating that the policy framework had been streamlined and was extremely supportive of building strong partnerships between Swedish and Indian companies.