Blacklisting of firms not to come in way of procurement: Parrikar

Under the new blacklisting policy, government will take stringent action against corrupt defence firms but it will not deter India from buying products from another company even if any equipment or software manufactured by the blacklisted entity was embedded into it.

This is being done by the government, which is finalising the blacklisting policy, to ensure that the regulatory framework does not affect the procurement process.

"Globally, many products have components from various companies. While a company which falls under the blacklisting purview will face action, we will also ensure that the policy does not affect any procurement from another company not related to the blacklisted one," Manohar Parrikar told PTI here on Wednesday.

The $750 million planned procurement of M777 ultra light howitzers from the US under the Foreign Military Sales route illustrates the government's stand. The guns use a fire control system of a subsidiary of the scandal-hit Italian firm Finmeccanica.

The government has already started the process of blacklisting Finmeccanica and all its subsidiaries, including AgustaWestland, over the VVIP chopper scam.

Parrikar had earlier made it clear that there would be "no relaxation" for those who had already been blacklisted and that "bribe givers" would be punished.

He had said existing blacklisted firms would be allowed to appeal before a vigilance committee of the Defence Ministry for delisting under the new policy.

Parrikar said the blacklisting of defence suppliers was not the only solution to root out corruption and hinted at going for heavy penalties against erring firms.