Now Aditya Birla Group joins the Defence equipment manufacturing party

After at least seven Indian corporate houses ventured into the defence sector, The Aditya Birla Group also has decided to take the plunge and add value to Indian government's 'Make in India' initiative.

The conglomerate is controlled by Kumar Mangalam Birla, and its interests range from metals to mobile telephony, now plans to enter into joint ventures with US, Israeli and Russian companies to make components for aerospace and combat vehicles.

Exploratory talks with companies such as Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defence contractor, US helicopter maker Sikorsky and Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have already been initiated. Not only this, they have also appointed one of the Big Four global consultants to help them with strategies and identify partners for their new division, which would be headed by former strategy head Dev Bhattacharya.

It was only after the government took several policy measures so that armed forces equipments can be locally manufactured that private Indian companies entered into the defence sector.

Other Indian business houses that have already started their defence businesses include the Tata Group, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Forge, L&T, Godrej and the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Group.

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