NDTV Defence Summit 2025: "Tariffs A Challenge, But We're In India For Long Haul" - Boeing Defence India MD

India's defence manufacturing is not only about Atmanirbharta, but also about making in India and selling to the world, according to industry leaders at the NDTV Defence Summit 2025. The BrahMos missile, for example, has many export customers, putting India on the map of defence exporters.

In a session on defence manufacturing in India, Boeing Defence India Managing Director Nikhil Joshi, Pratt & Whitney Vice President and Country Head Ashish Saraf, and Adani Defence and Aerospace Joint President and Head Land Systems Ashok Wadhawan explained the moving parts of what makes a good manufacturing ecosystem.

"What we are doing in Adani is building capability for the country as well as for the world. And not just now, for the last couple of years. So you are absolutely correct that we don't need to reinvent the wheel," Mr Wadhawan said at the session moderated by NDTV's Vishnu Som.

"But what we need to do is we need to build technology in India. So whenever we choose a partner, whenever we look at a technology, we have been looking at it from a futuristic point of view, like loitering munitions. When we brought that technology to India, at that time, nobody was even looking at it," he added.

Amid the steep US tariffs on India and the geopolitical situation, the Boeing Defence India managing director said they are "always going to be a challenge, whether it's the current tariffs that we're dealing with or what may come in the future."

"The aerospace and defence business is a long-cycle business and we are here for the long run. We strongly stand by the joint statement which was made by President [Donald] Trump and Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi earlier this year, where there are definite synergies for collaboration from the engineering side from the US and from the talent side from India, where we strongly believe that both parties can mutually benefit," Mr Joshi said.

On why Boeing - which has been in India for 80 years employing 7,000 people and 13,000 indirectly - is not an Indian company already, Mr Joshi said, "That's an excellent question. I wish I knew the answer to that. I do hope that we will be able to find a good answer to that because we are in effect an Indian company. We are registered in India. We are working for the Indian defence forces. We have got people on ground at the bases in direct support of our warfighters, lockstep with them through Operation Sindoor and others and we will remain committed to that long-term goal."

From Boeing's perspective, a lot of investments in manufacturing and engineering are in the US and that will remain a focus and therefore, a challenge in the short term, Mr Joshi added.

"But in the long run, we remain committed to India. We have made significant investments in not only manufacturing capabilities, but also sourcing from India... which is exported into our global supply chain. Coupled with the significant research and development investment which also exists in the country, it remains our commitment to partner with India in supporting the warfighter in developing capabilities that are reliable and resilient, because that's essentially what the warfighter requires," Mr Joshi said.

Mr Saraf, the VP and Country Head of Pratt & Whitney, pointed out "import is not a bad word."

"What you do with it, how you build upon it is more critical than saying that import should be restricted 100 per cent. So Pratt & Whitney and its parent, RTX, has over 87,000 engines flying around the world and over 65,000 customers," Mr Saraf said.

"... As far as India is concerned, RTX and Pratt have been present here for about 70 years developing various sorts of ecosystems in supply chain, engineering, digital, aftermarket, training and so on... Also the quality and certifications and capability development that the Indian supply chain has gone through over the last 15 years is just unprecedented," he said.

"If I were to be given $100 million in 2010 and told 'go spend on the Indian supply chain', it would be very difficult to do. Today, even a billion dollars is less, you know, and we are climbing up and up and up. All thanks to the capital investments that have gone in and a classic example here, Ashok and the Adani Group, how incredibly they have grown over the past seven years," the Pratt & Whitney country head said.