Growing interest on Indian missiles abroad, says Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said there is a growing and sustained interest among various countries in Indian missiles and the government wants to sell them to the friendly nations. “The interest in Indian missiles is definitely growing and we are addressing it,” Ms Sitharaman said while speaking at an industry event adding that India wanted to sell them to “friendly nations.”

Citing negotiations over aspects like cost, the defence minister said arriving at a decision on a deal is at times “frustrating”.

Several countries have shown interest in the Indian missiles like Vietnam evincing keen interest on the supersonic Bramhos missile, which is being jointly manufactured by Indian and Russia.

Recent media reports have said that all of India’s 44 defence attaches have been summoned to New Delhi from their postings abroad for meetings to find ways to enhance India’s defence exports besides strengthening the government and industry collaboration.

On the development, Ms Sitharaman said: “I am not asking them to be marketing experts but they should be able to talk a lot on what India’s defence manufacturers are doing to enhance the capacity of the country’s armed forces.” This will create an interest among various countries about the abilities of Indian defence equipment manufacturers and “in a way sell India without being marketing experts,” she said. Ms Sitharaman said she is talking to the Finance Commission to ensure that defence procurement funding, particularly the capital expenditure, becomes “non-lapsable” and stays alive even after a certain cycle.