As India is gearing up to purchase 114 fighter aircraft to replace its old fleet, the Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist on Tuesday (June 8) made a pitch to sell SAAB’s Gripen fighter aircraft to India to replace its old fleet.
In March, during a virtual summit, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven had raised the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked New Delhi to choose the Gripen, which is in contention with France’s Rafale, the American F/A-18 and F-21, MiG-35 and Sukhoi-35 of Russia and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Swedish company SAAB wants the estimated ₹1.3 lakh crore deal, one of the biggest defence deals in recent time to make the fighter jets in India with the promise to build a production line in India.
Addressing an event hosted by the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers Hultqvist said, “The Make in India concept provides excellent opportunities for cooperation that would serve both our countries’ interests. The ongoing multirole fighter aircraft procurement where the Gripen fighter concept offered by SAAB is a good example of transfer of technologies and is supported 100% by the Swedish government,”.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also pitched for more Swedish investment in India and said, “FDI liberalization and improved ‘ease of doing businesses’ has already attracted top defence companies of the world and have Joint Ventures in India,” Singh said in his speech. “Further, the Government of India has allowed FDI up to 74% through automatic route and up to 100% through the government route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology,” he added.
“I once again take this opportunity to invite Swedish firms to invest in the dedicated Defence Corridors of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where they can benefit greatly from the unique incentives being offered by the State Governments and the availability of a highly-skilled workforce in India,” the minister added.
Rajnath Singh also talked about the Foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can set up manufacturing facilities individually or partner with Indian companies through a Join Venture (JV) or technology agreement to capitalize on the ‘Make in India’ opportunity, and said. “There is a lot of scope for Sweden and Indian defence Industries for co-production and co development. Indian industry can also supply components to Swedish Industries. Swedish firms such as SAAB already have a major presence in India and I am confident that other Swedish firms will find India as a major investment destination for Defence Manufacturing,”.