Remove Regulatory Hurdles in Defence: Anil Ambani

Bengaluru: Within days of his Reliance Group foraying into defence business, industrialist Anil Ambani said on Wednesday that the sector was "hamstrung" by fears of regulatory censure and investigative overreach and the government needs to address these concerns.

He also pitched for replacing "the long shadow of the three C's - CBI, CVC and CAG" with two new C's of "courage and conviction".

Mr Ambani said that the fear of these 3 C's have led to "a lack of initiative and decision making at all levels of the government. This needs to change and we need to have the two C's - Courage and Conviction."

Giving an example, Mr Ambani said the bureaucracy has been given protection in the case of the coal block auction wherein the bureaucracy has necessary protection and similar initiatives can also be taken for defence procurement.

Reliance Group is present across a number of sectors including telecom, power, financial services and infrastructure. It recently set up three companies for its foray into the defence and aerospace manufacturing sector, which is estimated to touch a market size of $100 billion in 10 years.

In an opening speech at a CEO meet here at Aero India air show, Mr Ambani suggested a sovereign defence fund on PPP model, while he also sought infrastructure industry status to aerospace to pave way for easier credit and a greater role and opportunity for the private sector.

He said the government can hold 49 per cent in this fund, while private defence sector players can make up for the balance, with no player being allowed more than 5 per cent. The fund can be professionally managed to invest in long-gestation R&D projects and facilitate strategic global acquisitions in key technology areas of defence and national security, he added.