‘Tweaking of defence offset policy could catalyse manufacturing’

We are in defence and aerospace. ‘Make in India’ has wider prospects. It will give opportunities to become more competitive. We can leverage India’s capabilities in engineering. We have, in partnership with TAL, a factory in Nagpur to manufacture composite floor beams for Boeing 787-9. It is a game-changing technology. We have started (taking part in Make in India). We are looking at scaling it up. We are looking up to the government to tweak its offset policy so that true benefits (of Make in India) can be achieved.

What changes do you want in the defence offset policy?

We have already shared our concerns with the government. Make in India is designed to catalyse manufacturing. And if the offset policy is tweaked slightly, it can catalyse the sector. The first issue is period of performance for discharging obligations. It is 5-7 years and for high-technology it is not sufficient, you need a longer period. Flexibility of working with partners in selecting the offset is another thing. This prevents original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from accessing engineering and IT capabilities for offsets and hinders capacity building for highly-engineered product manufacturing.

The Centre has taken several steps to improve the business climate. Which areas are still a concern?

There should be more bankable taxation regime and finance minister has already assured the investors. You can’t have retrospective decisions on tax. Then, of course, there is this need of building the infrastructure . All these are required for investments.

What is you strategy for India going forward?

Our goal is to bring the best of Boeing to India and build our proven state-of-the-art commercial platforms. We want to harness the engineering capabilities on offer. We want to enhance our capabilities and take the best from India.