Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (Two ways of tightening our national security) that was published in Newsband

Two ways of tightening our national security

India can tighten its national security first by improving defence trade with the US and second by encouraging private companies to manufacture advanced weapons.

India should deepen bilateral defence trade with the US. The move will be a good one and will strengthen India as a nation. There should be technology transfer and top strategic defence trade.

There was a time when Indian government would voice concerns about American reluctance to transfer technology. But now the significant paradigm shift has occurred within the US administration on technology transfers to India.

According to US Commerce Department statistics, well over 99% of licence requests for dual use technology were granted in fiscal year 2011 and the percentages were also quite similar for munitions licences. Where Indian dissatisfaction arises is when provisos, or conditions, are sometimes placed on certain systems which deny the most sensitive components or technological know-how.

Technology is a strategic, rather than a commercial commodity for the US and is not parted with lightly. It will take more time to build US confidence on transferring technology to India - but it will grow over the long term as the relationship deepens.

However, no amount of foreign tech transfer will ever make India self-reliant in defence production. To become self-reliant India should foster more competition for its Defence Public Sector Undertakings by allowing its own private sector to compete in the defence market. Private companies should be invited to compete against the public sector in making defence weapons like the Army’s Tactical Communications System. Private companies are indeed eager to contribute to Indian defence needs especially those companies who do have financial incentive to build the necessary infrastructure for defence production. They can come up with the best quality defence equipment through free and open competition.

India should encourage its private sector to engage in basic defence research. India is blessed with copious amounts of technical talents in the private sector and these talents just needs to be tapped.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) should speed up its decision making process and improve transparency.

India should consider increasing the rate of Foreign Direct Investment to a level above 50%. Doing so would help Indian firms gain greater exposure to American industrial practices, obtain more access to American technology, and help India towards its goal of industrial self-reliance in defence.

Lastly, it may be worth establishing a national commission to examine the most optimal way to use offset resources.

Thus there should be closer US-India defence trade and also private companies should be encouraged to manufacture defence equipments. This will help in improving India’s own indigenous capabilities and ultimately its national security.