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Defence Procurement
Advice on the categories and processes of the Defence Acquisition Procedure, bid participation, the request for proposal and the contract that follows.
We advise manufacturers, technology partners and investors across defence and aerospace, the acquisition procedure that governs how the government buys, the offset obligation that comes with a contract, the foreign investment and industrial licence that allow participation, and the export control regime that governs what may cross a border.
A defence and aerospace mandate runs on the acquisition procedure, the investment and licensing framework and the export control regime. Each is detailed and procedural, and participation depends on getting all three right at once.
Advice on the categories and processes of the Defence Acquisition Procedure, bid participation, the request for proposal and the contract that follows.
Structuring and discharging offset obligations, the eligible avenues, the choice of offset partners and the documentation and banking of offset credits.
Foreign direct investment in defence within the sectoral caps and the conditions on the automatic and approval routes, and the structuring of foreign participation.
Industrial licensing for the manufacture of defence items under the applicable framework, and the conditions and security requirements attached.
Joint ventures, technology transfer and indigenisation arrangements between foreign original equipment manufacturers and Indian partners.
The SCOMET list and the export control framework for dual-use and military items, classification, licensing and compliance for export.
Each stage clears a gate the next depends on. The investment and licence permit participation, the procedure governs the bid, the contract carries the offset, and the export control regime governs every item that crosses a border.
Fix the foreign investment route, the entity and the industrial licence that allow participation in the programme.
Determine the acquisition category and prepare the bid and the responses to the request for proposal under the procedure.
Structure the offset obligation, identify the avenues and the partners and plan how the credits will be discharged and banked.
Negotiate the contract, the technology transfer and the indigenisation commitments within the procedure and the policy.
Maintain the licensing, offset and export control compliance through performance, including SCOMET classification and licensing.
Every defence and aerospace engagement is read through three lenses at once. The procedure and the licensing have to be technically exact, the participation has to make commercial sense, and the whole of it has to be legally compliant with the procurement, investment and export control frameworks.
We get the acquisition category, the bid, the offset structure and the licensing exactly right under the Defence Acquisition Procedure and the applicable frameworks, because in this sector a procedural defect disqualifies a participant before the merits are ever reached.
We structure the foreign investment, the joint venture and the technology transfer so participation in the programme is commercially viable within the caps, the conditions and the indigenisation the policy requires.
We maintain the licensing, the offset discharge and the SCOMET export control compliance through the life of the contract, so the engagement stays within the procurement, investment and export control regimes that govern it.
Defence acquisition is governed by a detailed procedure, and the difference between a successful and a disqualified bid is often procedural, the category, the eligibility, the offset structure, the licence. The commercial case matters, but it never gets heard if the procedure is not satisfied. We treat the procedure as the first strategic question, not a formality to clear at the end.
The vocabulary that decides outcomes, set out precisely, not loosely.
The framework governing capital procurement by the armed forces, setting out categorisation, trials, offsets and contracting.
The list of Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies whose export is controlled and requires authorisation.
The mandatory reinvestment a foreign vendor must make into Indian defence, civil aerospace or internal security in qualifying capital contracts.
Foreign direct investment permitted up to seventy-four percent through the automatic route and beyond that through the government route, subject to security conditions.
The Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured category that receives the highest priority in defence procurement.
Short, direct, on the record.
The Defence Acquisition Procedure governs how the Ministry of Defence acquires equipment, and it sorts acquisitions into categories that reflect the degree of indigenous content and domestic manufacture required. The category determines who can bid, what indigenous content is required and how the procurement proceeds, from the request for proposal through trials to the contract. Because the procedure is detailed and the category affects eligibility and obligations, a bidder has to understand the category and the procedural requirements before committing, since a bid that does not fit the procedure can be set aside regardless of its commercial merit.
An offset is an obligation, attached to certain defence contracts above a threshold, requiring the foreign vendor to reinvest a portion of the contract value into the Indian defence sector through eligible avenues, such as sourcing from Indian industry, transfer of technology or investment in defence manufacture. Discharging an offset requires identifying eligible avenues and partners, structuring the activities to earn the prescribed credits and documenting and banking those credits with the authorities. Because offsets carry their own conditions and timelines, they have to be planned alongside the main contract and not treated as a separate exercise after the award.
Foreign direct investment in the defence sector is permitted up to defined limits, with investment up to a specified percentage allowed through the automatic route and higher investment requiring government approval, in each case subject to the conditions in the policy. The structuring of foreign participation, through a joint venture, a subsidiary or a technology partnership, has to fit within these caps and conditions, and the route determines whether prior approval is needed. Because defence is a sensitive sector, the conditions attached to foreign investment, including on control and security, have to be analysed carefully before the structure is fixed.
The manufacture of defence items generally requires an industrial licence under the applicable industrial regulation framework, and the licence carries conditions including on security, on reporting and on the items that may be produced. The licensing process and the conditions attached have to be factored into the plan for a manufacturing facility or a joint venture, because the licence defines the scope of what may lawfully be made. A manufacturer or an investor entering the sector has to align the licence, the foreign investment route and the manufacturing plan so that all three are consistent.
The export of military and dual-use items from India is governed by the export control framework, including the SCOMET list, which identifies the special chemicals, organisms, materials, equipment and technologies subject to control. An exporter has to classify its items against the list, determine whether an export authorisation is required and obtain the licence before exporting a controlled item. Because the consequences of an unlicensed export of a controlled item are serious, the classification and the licensing have to be addressed as part of the compliance framework of any business that makes or trades in items that may fall within the controlled categories.
Income tax, transfer pricing, withholding and treaty interpretation
Merger filings, dominance, cartels and CCI proceedings
Economic offences, PMLA, SEBI enforcement and internal investigations
The strongest outcomes are built into the strategy at the start, not recovered from disputes later.