US-India Commerce Ministry officials to discuss corrosion prevention in defence

In a bid to strengthen the country's defence sector, officials from Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry are scheduled to meet U.S. Department of Commerce to discuss adaptation of technologies from the latter for prevention of corrosion and maintenance of equipment standards for the defence sector.

India loses billions of dollars every year on corrosion cost and defence sector is one of the contributors along with shipping, heavy industries and petroleum among others.

The first round table meeting which will be co-chaired by the US Assistant Joint Secretary Arun Kumar, being set up on Friday is part of the U.S.-India commercial dialogue 2014-2016 term agreed upon when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited US President Barack Obama in September.

From India, Ms Mugdha Sinha, director IAS, Ministry of Commerce will be at the round table meet.

"Since the discussions are at ministry level, private sector is not involved. Officials of the two government are looking at exchanging information on corrosion issues India is facing in the defence sector and they will try to see if they (both ministries) can work together on the policy level," Samir Degan, chairman, NACE Gateway of India told Business Standard.

US-headquartered NACE International, which is facilitating this event, is recognized globally as the premier authority for corrosion control solutions. The company is present in India as NACE Gateway of India.

Along with several other points chalked out for discussion, issues such as disjointedness of corrosion standards in the country's defence sector and adaptation to more mature corrosion technologies of the US would be some of the key topics.

"So at the government-to-government level, they would discuss that US companies come here, work here and get revenue and we (Indian companies) get the needed technology fillip," said a source close to the development.

This also hints at a step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" dream, where the domestic private sector can be encouraged to acquire technology from foreign companies and set up joint ventures in India.

Since the last few months, the government seems to be taking several steps towards strengthening the country's defence sector. Apart from newly appointed Defence Minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar, the government recently cleared defence projects worth Rs 80,000 crore as India currently imports nearly 70% of its military hardware. Also, in August, the Cabinet has raised foreign limit for investment to 49% from the current 26% in the defence sector, which would encourage domestic manufacture of arms.