Reliance Defence and Engineering is also looking to export defence equipment to other countries besides exploring opportunities in India. “While we are pursuing several opportunities in India on the naval side, we are also pursuing foreign military sales which is effectively selling defence naval equipment to other Governments, other countries outside India,” Anil Ambani told shareholders at the AGM of RInfra here on Tuesday.
“Our teams are engaged in multiple opportunities which we hope will materialise in the next few years,” he added. Reliance Defence, wholly owned susbsidiary of RInfra, is looking at an integrated play in defence sector across all the verticals of army, navy and air-force, Ambani said, adding ‘the sector is new and it is taking baby steps in moving forward’. In January, RInfra took over the complete control of the management and control of Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering Co (PDOC) now called as Reliance Defence and Engineering.
“The Pipavav Shipyard will be the center of excellence for everything to do with the naval operations. There are only two companies accepted by the government to build submarines, warships, to refit existing warships and existing submarines and we are one of them,” he said. Ambani also said experts from Germany, Russia, France came and surveyed the Pipavav Shipyard and have certified it as a world class facility. All of them have expressed their desire and actually signed MoUs with RInfra to come and work with it in India and transfer technology, train the employees and also provide capital, the chairman added.