Bel To Look For Other Sources If Us Imposes Export Curbs

Public sector electronics unit Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has said it will look for alternative sources of supply if the United States commerce department tried to impose export curbs on it.

If any of the items currently imported from the US is not available to BEL in the future, the company will look for alternative sources of supply, a BEL spokesperson said, reacting to recent news reports.

He said the company did not receive any official communication from the United States commerce department in this regard.

The proposed licensing review of all exports from the US could result in longer processing and procurement time, he said.

 

The US commerce department is said to have decided to impose export curbs on BEL as it suspects the PSU of contributing to Indian missile development programme.

According to BEL, the Journal of Commerce report quoted in the news reports spoke only of licensing review of all US exports to BEL.

Review of export licenses is nothing new, a BEL spokesperson said.

He sais many items imported by BEL from the US are already through export licensing formalities, necessitating submission of an end-user certificate by BEL specifying to what use that particular item will be put and to whom it will be supplied.

BEL came under scrutiny for its support of proliferation activities in India, according to deputy assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement, Iain Baird, in an interview to the Journal of Commerce.

The journal quoted him of saying that India had a very active missile programme and a potential nuclear programme.

The curbs are expected to be announced formally in the Federal Register next week.

Officials at a briefing told industry representatives that the export restrictions will take the form of requiring individual license review for all items sold to Bharat Electronics.