Kalyani announces joint venture with Rafael for defence systems

Bengaluru, Feb 19 (IANS) India's leading industrial house Kalyani group is setting up a joint venture with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd near Hyderabad in Telangana to manufacture missiles, remote weapon systems and advanced armour solutions.

"The joint venture (JV) is in line with the government's 'Make in India' policy to indigenise development and production of defence equipment," Kalyani chairman and managing director Baba Kalyani told reporters here Thursday.

The 51:49 JV will have the technology transferred from Rafael to manufacture Spike missiles for the Indian armed forces and for which the government is slated float a tender soon.

"This is one of the first JV in the defence sector after the NDA government increased the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in defence to 49 percent from 26 percent in July 2014," B.N. Kalyani said on the margins of the Aero India 2015 trade expo at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on the city's outskirts.

The multiple-utility missiles will be supplied to the Hyderabad-based state-run Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) for integrating with weapon systems of the three Indian defence services.

"The JV will also manufacture weapons systems and advanced armour solutions for Indian and subsequently global customers of Rafael," Kalyani said on the occasion, but did not disclose the proposed investment by both partners.

The group has set up a special vehicle purpose for the JV, to be christened soon, with modular production capacity to scale it up on securing orders proportionately.

"We see Kalyani Group as an ideal partner to expand our business opportunities in India, where we have been engaged with the defence ministry and state-run enterprises like BDL and BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd)," Rafael chief executive Vice Admiral (retd.) Yadida Yaari said on the occasion.

As a multinational conglomerate with high technology, engineering and manufacturing capabilities, the $2.5-billion diversified Kalyani group is present in engineering steel, automotive, industrial, renewable energy, urban infrastructure and specialty chemicals.

The $2.1-billion Rafael, which designs, develops, manufactures and supplies a range of high tech defence systems for air, land, sea and space applications, was set up as part of the Israeli ministry of defence over seven decades ago.

"We have an order backlog of $4.3 billion for delivering products according to the soldiers specific requirements in the battlefield," Rafael chairman Brigadier General Itzhak Ghat (retd) said in a statement here.

As Israel's second largest defence firm, Rafael offers its global customers an array of innovative products ranging from underwater systems through naval, ground and air superiority systems to space systems.