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 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 any of its executives 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.
Following the story’s publication, the three people and another government source confirmed the meetings had taken place and that Adani Group and Bharat Forge attended.
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%.
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.
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.
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. — Reuters
