Defense
As India is looking towards a long term, strategic partnership between defence ministry and the private sector, the initiative has been divided into five sub-groups.
The Ministry of Defence led by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has cleared composition of the five sub-groups constituted for focused discussions on the strategic partnership model for selected platforms in the defence sector.
The first sub-group for Armoured Fighting Vehicles will be chaired by Col (Retd) H S Shankar, Chairman, FICCI Defence sub-committee on Indian Defence SME and will have representatives from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and two star rank officers from the Armoured Division of the Army Headquarters.
The second sub-group, which will have discussions on platforms such as Aircrafts and Helicopters (fighter, transport, etc), will be headed by Sukaran Singh, who is Co-Chairman of CII National Committee on Defence. This group will also have participation from DRDO and two star rank officers from Air Head Quarters.
Sub-group-III that will focus on platforms including Submarines and their major systems will be chaired by Jayant Damodar Patil, Chairman FICCI Defence Committee and will comprise representatives from DRDO and two star rank officers from the Naval Head Quarters. Rear Admiral Pritam Lal (Retd), who was member of the Dhirendra Singh committee of experts, will also be a member of this Sub-group-III on submarines.
Ammunition including smart ammunition will be the focus area for Sub-group-IV and will be headed by Neeraj Gupta, MD, MKU Pvt Ltd and nominee of industry association, ASSOCHAM. As in other sub-groups, this sub-group will have DRDO representatives and two star rank officers from the Army HQs. This sub-group will be facilitated by Wing Commander Vani Mishra, PO (Systems).
Sub-group V will look into macro process management of issues related to eco-system, technical competence, financial evaluation, weightage to existing infrastructure, commitment of partner for life cycle support and other regulatory matters.
This sub-group will be chaired by Rajinder Bhatia, Co-chairman, CII national Defence Sub-committee on Land Systems and will also comprise of DRDO representatives.
As per sources, chairpersons of each of these five sub-groups have been asked to expeditiously complete the discussions on their relevant topics and be ready with their respective presentations latest by June 3, 2016.
Parrikar had held a consultative meeting with the industry associations on April 25 on the issue of strategic partners for defence sector from private sector.
(Anupama Airy is the Founder and Editor of EnergyInfraPost.com and DefenceAviationPost.com. She can be reached at anupama.airy@gmail.com, Twitter handle: @anupamaairy)