Defence attaches across the world to get annual budget of up to $50,000 each to promote sales of goods from public and private sectors. The nations that India believes have the maximum potential of purchasing military equipment include Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE and Malaysia

by Manu Pubby

NEW DELHI: With its ambitious target to achieve Rs 35,000 crore worth of military exports by 2025, the government has drawn up a list of 85 countries that it wants to promote its defence industry in and has empowered its defence attaches across the world to showcase Indian capabilities.

In a new initiative, the defence attaches will be given an annual budget of up to $50,000 each for promoting exports of made-in-India defence products from both public and private sectors by participating in exhibitions, conducting market studies, organising seminars and distributing publicity material.

Last year, defence attaches had been summoned to India to discuss ways and means to promote sales. They even held meetings with representations of the arms industry and officials from the defence and external affairs ministries.

Defence attaches across the world have been asked to submit a detailed road map and action plan for promotion activities by the end of this week, following which the funds will be released to them to undertake the activities.

Foreign nations where the possibility of exports is the highest have been placed under category A. Defence attaches in these countries will get $50,000 annually while other nations are in categories B and C and will get lower allocations. A total of Rs 16 crore is planned to be spent on the scheme initially.

“The scheme will play a catalytic role in addressing interventions required for exploring new markets and promoting export-oriented activities by defence attaches in the countries to which they are attached,” the defence ministry said in a note on the promotion scheme.

The nations that India believes have the maximum potential of purchasing military equipment include Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE and Malaysia.

Even western nations with a developed defence industry like the UK and the US are on the list due to the increasing ecosystem of sub system manufacturers in India that have access to technology thanks to defence offsets programmes of the past.

“India is emerging as a manufacturing hub for defence production and Defence Production Policy 2018 envisages an export target of Rs 35,000 crore by 2025. Defence attaches’ deputed across the world therefore play a pivotal role in showcasing India’s capabilities in defence product manufacturing and promoting export of defence products,” the defence ministry said.

As reported by ET, the defence ministry is rolling out a series of initiatives to promote exports, including giving autonomy to PSUs, to deal with foreign customers when it comes to presenting commercial offers and quotes, setting up standard rules for usage of foreign lines of credit and ensuring that state-owned units operating abroad follow ethical standards.