Bharat Forge on a defence offensive

Defense Expo 2016 is throwing up multiple opportunities for Indian companies to tie up with foreign companies as well as showcase the Make in India prowess. Speaking to Bloomberg TV India, Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani said the Centre’s new Defence Procurement Procedure will give a “new direction” to the indigenous defence industry. In defence, once a company develops a series of platform technology, it can be used for many products and innovate on that, which is how the industry grows, he said.

The best thing that has happened today is that the new DPP has been unveiled. We have been waiting for a long time. Of course, one has to go through it. But knowing a little bit about the new DPP, I think it should give a new direction to the indigenous defence industry. There is a category in the DPP for indigenously developed products. These are all indigenously designed and made products. So we hope we will now be able to take our products to the market through the DPP route. Till now we did not have a route. We can keep doing things but how do you take it to the market? The Defence Ministry is just one customer. Now we have a direction. Now we have a policy. So we will work through this and the future is great. What we have done in two-and-a-half and three years is that we have been able to make more platforms of artillery. It’s never heard of in India so far that such artillery system can be built in such a short span of time. Two of them have been test fired successfully. And now the new DPP I think will give a fairly strong fillip to Indian companies.

What is the direction going forward as far as your company is concerned? How big will the defence opportunity be?

It’s very simple. As per information put out by the Ministry of Defence on its own website, 4,000 guns are required in the next 20-25 years. Clearly, you need more than one manufacturer for that and we are going to be one of those. There are many other activities that are pertaining to armoured vehicles and ammunitions. Wherever we see gaps, which we can fill up with our technology or joining hands with companies who can provide us the technology, we will get involved in that.

How much are you looking to invest? What is the order book that you are looking at for Bharat Forge?

It is going to be significant in terms of investment. We cannot put a number but as a company we are in a very comfortable position as we hardly have any debts.

Is defence going to be a big focus area for Bharat Forge?

Yes. I think seven years from today, there will be a very large area for it.

What are the other technology partners that you are looking at?

We are looking at a tie-up with Hunan for fuses and ammunitions. We have tied up with AM General. We have a vehicle there which is also demonstrated outside, which is a vehicle for military use — a protected vehicle especially for warfare in jungles. We are doing autonomous vehicles which can ride by themselves through sophisticated radar and video systems and for mine detection.

In defence, what happens is once you develop a series of platform technology it can be used for many products and you have to innovate the products. And this is how the defence industry grows. We have so much of platform technology available, our focus right now is on artillery, armoured vehicles, which is a FICV (fighting infantry combat vehicle) programme and we need to get that through.

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