Parrikar to meet industry members on strategic ties

The meeting will be the first with a sub-group that has been created to have a more focused discussion on it, sources said.

Former DRDO chief VK Aatre had earlier this year submitted a report to the Defence Ministry, recommending guidelines for selecting domestic private firms for strategic partnership.

However, Indian private defence industry is divided over the issue with some big players batting for it while others pushing to delay it by at least next five years.

Parrikar has already held a round of talks with the industry chambers over the issue. The feeling among several private industry players is that only big firms will benefit out of this move.

 However, many large firms are not open to the idea since they feel they would be restricted to just specific fields and, therefore, their overall investment and plans will get affected.