India blacklisting South African, Israeli, Swiss defense suppliers

India’s Defense Minister AK Anthony mentioned several foreign defense suppliers as being recommended for blacklisting by the country Central Bureau of Investigation. This  information came in reply to a question in India’s upper house of Parliament. The companies include Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd (STK), Singapore Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI), Israel Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD), [...]

Will Cameron score over Obama?

The British Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting India now, at least three months before the scheduled visit of U.S. President Obama. Cameron is distinctly focused on commercial ties. Especially with his recent interest in containing expenses at home, India seems to be on the forefront for business engagement. In my posts I generally focus [...]

US National Security Advisor Jim Jones to travel to India

Here is a another small step in enabling commerce over sensitive goods between the US and India. From July 14 to 16, American National Security Advisor General Jim Jones will be visiting India at the invitation of his counterpart, Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon. During his visit to New Delhi, the General will meet [...]

India companies rise on Defense News 100 list

With 2009 sales of just about $2 billion, India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, moved up seven ranks to #41 on the Defense News Top 100 list of companies this year. The other Indian company on the list also moved up, twelve ranks from #74 to #62.  State-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd, had 2009 sales of $916 [...]

U.S. to liberalize export controls to boost sales to India

Exploring avenues to boost its stagnant exports, the U.S. is mulling a complete overhaul of its export control policies this year, which should pave the way for sale of more high-technology goods to India and China. While visiting China last month, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said “We are reviewing the entire list of [...]

Clinton, Krishna re-affirm defense trade, security ties

During a visit to Washington DC, Indian Minister of External Affairs S.M.  Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week reiterated their shared goal of advancing security and stability across Asia, in particular, through the emergence of an open, balanced, and inclusive architecture of cooperation in the region. They acknowledged the importance of [...]

Obama announces India Visit for November

Every U.S. President since Clinton has visited India but Barack H. Obama will be the first to visit during his first term.  A trip has been in discussion since last November and yesterday, while India’s Minister of External Affairs and his delegation were completing their work on the “strategic dialog” between the two countries. Joking [...]