New Delhi : IFCCI Defence & Aerospace Committee Meeting

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The chairman of the committee Mr. Stephane Lavigne, gave the welcome note before the before setting up the context of this meeting and introducing the broader agenda for the day. The floor was then opened to each participant who had the opportunity to introduce them self and the company they represented. 

Mr. Hervé Maniere, Deputy Defence Attaché at the Embassy of France in India gave a presentation on the French Defence Industrial policy where he presented the specificities of the Defence Market and the role of the role of the DGA in French industrial policies with a specific focus on how French SMEs are supported by the MOD.

The DGA presentation was then followed by a quick overview made by Mr. Dhiraj Mathur, Partner at PwC, of the experiences of other countries industry bodies and how they are driving their Aerospace and Defence agenda towards the MOD.

The core of the session revolved around discussing, with every participating company, on the core issues and challenges that all member companies from the A&D committee are facing.

As for the next steps to be taken for this committee, we agreed to showcase the existing footprint of French companies in the A&D space and increase the SME participation, whether French or Indian companies.

In this regards, IFCCI will collate the following information from its members which in turn will be shared with the Indian government through various platforms to demonstrate the extent of French participation in the “Make in India” initiative. 

- Investment committed and made in the past 4 years 

- Number of existing employees bifurcated between Male and Female

- Total turnover in India bifurcated between export and local sales for the past 4 years

- Total tax paid in India bifurcated between export and local sales for past 4 years (in $);

- Total tax paid in India (in $) for past 4 years bifurcated between Income tax (including withholding tax deducted), GST (including VAT, excise, other state taxes), customs duty;

- Amount of inputs/ raw material/ goods sourced from India for global supply chain (in $ for past 4 years);

The State of Karnataka attracts maximum investment in A&D space so it was agreed that the committee will reach out to State Government with a set of proposals/ recommendations on how to encourage/ incentivize SMEs to set up presence in the state.

In this connection, DGA's representative will be invited to share French Government's approach, policy & experience on encouraging SMEs in the A&D domain for eg; financial support, order commitments, etc. The idea is to publicize this initiative during the Aero India show and if possible, share some early wins/ success stories.

AStech Cluster - India

Finally, I am pleased to introduce to all committee members, the AStech cluster being represented by Mr. Saurav RayChaudhuri in Bangalore who is also a part of the IFCCI team.

AStech is a cluster of Aerospace companies based in Île-de-France. It has more than 300 members varying in different sectors such as composite manufacturing, vibration equipment, surface treatment chemicals, testing & measurement facilities and equipments.

Every year, AStech issues an “E-Book” to be circulated to aerospace companies based in India. The E-Book contains new and exciting products that the AStech members wish to market in India.  Mr. RayChaudhuri will get in touch with the committee members in order to introduce and share the AStech E-Book as well as getting the committee members’ feedback.