India has the capability to create a fairly extensive defence manufacturing capability in many areas, and as a country and as an industry, we have matured in terms of technology and capability to make this happen.
The period from 2002 to 2007 was probably our best period. We created a strategy to build global scale, footprints in each of the geographies and dramatically built our international business.
In the U.S., we didn't have scale, and without scale, it's difficult to operate.
If India has to achieve exponential growth, it would have to be on the back of strong growth in the manufacturing sector.
We are a heterogeneous society. We have to accept that. Growth has to be such that the most backward sections also benefit from it. Otherwise, it will be a very imbalanced growth.
In business, you try to minimise risk.
I am sick and tired of the process where everybody tells you that Indian companies don't have the technology and capability. We need to put money where our mouth is and make things happen, and that is what we are trying to do.
Prior to 2001, hardly any company in North America or Europe would buy from India.
India is the most competitive manufacturing destination on this planet. If we are able to take advantage of that competitiveness for our domestic markets, this country would be humming with activity; industrial production will grow at 10-11% per year.
We need to just study what other countries have done. There are examples of a strong partnership between the defence establishment and the private industry.
We passionately set up a programme that we call the Indian gun programme. I challenged Colonel Bhatia, who heads our defence business, that let's build an Indian gun. There's a belief that Indian companies aren't capable of this, and we want to prove them wrong, as we did in components.
We've made two products; one is a 155 mm 52-calibre gun with self-propelling and towing capability. This is a field gun - the mainstay of the Indian army like the Bofors guns. Our gun is similar but of a longer range. That was 39 calibre; this is 52. The calibre denotes the length of the barrel and the range.
There is a feeling within our system that defence equipment can't be made here and should be imported. I wanted to break this myth, so we spent our money and made a product to prove we have capability in this country, so don't just brush us aside.
India is the second biggest defence procurer in the world after the U.S.
You cannot make an aircraft without forged components.
With liberalisation, Indian industry gained international exposure because of which it became imperative for companies to rework their strategies to become globally competitive.
One of the criteria for a global company is that it should have a manufacturing presence in multiple countries and should not only be an exporter.
We can reorient our products and business strategy because we are an agile organisation.
Politicians said that with our cheap labour, we could be competitive in the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. We were the most uncompetitive country with that cheap labour.
If somebody told me you'd be a one and a half billion dollar company and be the largest in the world, I wouldn't have believed it myself.
