Mahindra Defence tied-up with Airbus Helicopters to form a Joint Venture

Mahindra Group subsidiary Mahindra Defence on 3 July 2015 tied-up with European aerospace giant Airbus Helicopters to form a Joint Venture to manufacture defence choppers jointly under the Make in India initiative.

This Joint Venture will act as the prime contractor for India’s military helicopter tenders including the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter, the Naval Utility Helicopter and the Naval Multirole Helicopter procurement programmes.

It will supply the Indian Armed Forces with Made-in-India, state-of-the-art helicopters of high reliability, quality and safety standard based on combat-proven platforms.

This project comes with a condition that the Airbus will transfer related technology only if it is allowed a 51 percent stake, leading to full ownership and control of the joint venture.

Currently, the defence procurement procedure (DPP) 2013 has a foreign investment ceiling of 49 percent for the original equipment manufacturers in the defence sector. Also, the Cabinet Committee on Security’s approval is needed for investments above 49 percent by the foreign firms in addition to the approval by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

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