By Shivam Patel
NEW DELHI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - At least half a dozen executives from top Indian arms makers, including Adani Defence and Bharat Forge, attended rare meetings in Russia this year to discuss potential joint ventures, three people familiar with the matter said.
The meetings took place during the first visit of India's defence business leaders to Russia since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The visit by the defence business leaders had not previously been reported. The Indian government is seeking to reorientate its decades-old defence ties with Russia to focus on joint development of weapons.
After the article was published, a spokesperson for Bharat Forge denied, and an Adani Group spokesperson reiterated its denial, that executives from any of their companies had attended the meetings.
"No Adani representative attended or participated in any meetings in Russia — official or otherwise," an Adani spokesperson said in a statement. "Any reporting that states or implies otherwise is false."
Following the story's publication, the three people and another government source confirmed to Reuters that the meetings had taken place and that representatives of Adani Group and Bharat Forge had attended.
A Reuters spokesperson said: "We stand by our reporting."
India's defence ministry declined to comment on this story. It had also not responded to a request for comment earlier.
Any potential collaboration with Russia risks setting back plans by Indian defence firms to jointly develop Western arms as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to make India, one of the world's biggest arms importers, a global manufacturing hub.
Western diplomats have previously said that a key obstacle to the transfer of sensitive military technology to India is its defence ties with Russia and the vast amount of Russian-origin arms used by the Indian military, totalling about 36%.
The talks in Moscow were held on the sidelines of a visit by an Indian defence-industrial delegation on October 29-30, headed by India's Defence Production Secretary Sanjeev Kumar, that was aimed at laying the ground for Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India on December 4-5.
JOINT PRODUCTION IN INDIA
The meetings discussed the potential for manufacturing of spares for Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets, and other Russian-origin air defence and weapon systems, as well as a Russian proposal to set up production units in India for development of equipment that could potentially also be exported to Moscow, said two of the sources and another industry executive.
They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
Russia has been India's top arms supplier for decades, and during Putin's visit the two sides said they had agreed to reorient their partnership "to joint research and development, co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems" to support India's self-reliance in defence.
INDIAN EXECUTIVES IN MOSCOW
A broad delegation of representatives from defence units of Indian conglomerates, state-owned firms, as well as startups involved in the development of drones and artificial intelligence for military use attended the meetings, the sources said.
An executive at engineering conglomerate Kalyani Group's Bharat Forge, which makes components for missiles and artillery guns, attended the meetings as part of efforts to source or jointly develop components for Russian-origin tanks and aircraft as well as to explore potential future collaboration on helicopters, two of the sources said.
Adani Defence and Aerospace, a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's apples-to-airports conglomerate Adani Group, was represented by its Chief Executive Ashish Rajvanshi, the sources said.
Also attending was an executive from the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers' (SIDM) advisory group that lists more than 500 arms and military equipment makers as its members, including the defence arms of conglomerates Tata Sons, Larsen & Toubro, and state-owned firms such as Bharat Electronics.
An SIDM spokesperson said no one from the group attended any such meetings.
Spokespeople for Tata Sons and Larsen & Toubro said none of their representatives attended any meetings in Russia. Reuters was unable to determine if Bharat Electronics was part of the business delegation. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Retired Lieutenant General Arun Sahni, who is an adviser to the defence unit of Tata Sons, said following the Reuters story that he was in Moscow in November in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of the firm.
Sahni said he did not attend the meetings of Indian defence business leaders in Moscow on October 29-30, but said he knew that they had happened but was not aware of the firms in attendance.
SANCTIONS RISK
Reuters reported in 2024 that a Bharat Forge subsidiary was among the three Indian firms that exported artillery shells to Europe, some of which were later diverted to Ukraine, resulting in a diplomatic protest from Moscow.
Indian firms, however, would be hesitant about striking new deals with Russia due to the risk of secondary sanctions, an Indian executive said.
While India can use diplomatic outreach and lobbying to offer some protection from sanctions, an Indian defence official said the firms would have to factor in the political risks themselves.
(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi: Editing by Frances Kerry)
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