Parrikar plans to whitelist foreign defence companies

TEAM HERALD
NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is pushing for abolishing the system of blacklisting the  foreign companies and remove some two dozen companies put in the blacklist for irregularities in the defence deals in the past,  in the new defence procurement policy.
The new policy may also allow the companies to appoint authorised sales representatives or agents in a reversal of a total ban imposed on any dealings through agents after the Bofors scam.
Parrikar has already gone on record to say that India does not benefit from putting any defence supplier in the black list as it rather decreases the number of bidders in the defence deals. In many procurement bids, the number of bidders is reduced to just two while there are also some special weapons in which all the manufacturers are already in the black list.
The new policy is aimed at attracting investments by the foreign arms manufacturers in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” programme. It will ensure better deal to the companies interested in setting up their manufacturing plants in India.
Once all those tainted companies are removed from the blacklist maintained by the ministry, they will be able to participate in the procurements for the defence forces.
Sources in the defence ministry said Parrikar had ordered a review of all the companies blacklisted in the past and there is all likelihood to allow the bids by many of them against whom the charges were not established. These include Bofors, Tatra Trucks, Corporation Defence of Russia and a Israeli military agency. The ministry has already refused to clamp any ban on Rolls Royce, despite CBI probing the alleged irregularities in supply of the engines for aircraft.