Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday (14 February) met CEOs of global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on sidelines of Aero India-2023 in Bengaluru.

At the meeting, Singh invited global OEMs to co-develop, co-produce, integrate and strengthen supply chains, form joint ventures, set up manufacturing in India and make for the world.

The meeting was attended by the CEOs and senior management of General Atomics, Safran, Boeing, Embraer and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems.

During the interaction, Singh highlighted that India offers significant advantages of competitive land costs, skilled human capital, a vibrant start-up ecosystem and a huge domestic defence market to the Global Defence industry. 

Emphasising the importance of the defence sector for India, Singh said, “Defence production meets the twin goals of becoming self-reliant in a critical sector as well as generating jobs for our people".

He also mentioned the incentives given by Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu state governments for investment in Defence Industrial Corridors, central government policies promoting FDI and defence manufacturing in India, the strong legal system protecting stakeholders' interests and improvements in ease of doing business.

“There are opportunities to co-develop, co-produce, integrate and strengthen supply chains, from joint ventures, set up manufacturing in India and make for the world,” he said, according to a Defence Ministry release.