New Delhi: Dassault Aviation, the French aviation giant, may buy out the stake of Reliance Defence in their Nagpur based joint venture Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL), as per the media reports.
DRAL is a joint venture between Dassault Aviation and Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure. It has set up a plant in Mihan-SEZ. Reliance Defence owns 51 percent stake while the remaining 49 percent stake is held by the French firm.
Quoting sources, the reports have claimed that the French firm is already in talks with Reliance Defence over buying the stake. The further expansion of the plant is on hold owing to the inability to infuse more money into the project.
They said, since India allows 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) on a case-to-case basis, Dassault Aviation is hoping that clearances would come in. It is learnt that, while Dassault Aviation was initially scouting for another possible Indian partner, it has decided to go alone.
As of now five Rafale parts are being manufactured in the plant in Nagpur which are sent to France to get fitted in all the Rafale jets, not just the Indian ones. The plant is also manufacturing parts of Falcon 2000 jets, which are sent to France to be integrated with the assembly line.
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