India Regarded As Safe Place For Defence Production: Piyush Goyal At Davos

Piyush Goyal London visit: A free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK could be ready by Diwali, said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal during his UK visit.

There is a lot of interest among international companies, including in Britain, for defence manufacturing in India because the world sees the country as not only a big marketplace but also a safe place to work, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said in London.

The minister, who is on a two-day visit to the UK on his way back from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, told PTI during an India Global Forum (IGF) event on Thursday evening that the defence sector offers a natural potential investment opportunity in India because of the government's open policies.

"The whole world realises that India is a big market place, a safe place to work with in terms of manufacturing in defence equipment, particularly because we don't insist on technology transfer, we even allow coveted technologies to be owned fully by foreign investors," he said

"There is a lot of interest in companies around the world to look at manufacturing defence in India. Defence will be a very natural potential investment opportunity in India, given our large spending on defence and given also the fact that we opened our doors now to invite more and more companies to come and manufacture in India. In fact, there was interest shown by British companies who would like to come and invest in India and we are keen to discuss further," he said.