Govt offers cheap loans for arms, eyes Russia's traditional customers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to transform India into a global factory floor has produced billions of dollars of low-cost iPhones and pharmaceuticals. Now he hopes to add missiles, helicopters and battleships to the shopping carts of foreign governments.

 

The world's largest importer of weapons after Ukraine is expanding the ability of the state-owned Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to offer long-term, low-cost loans to clients, including those whose political or credit risk profiles may limit their access to conventional financing, according to two Indian officials and three industry sources.

 

New Delhi will also sharply increase the number of defense attaches in its foreign missions as part of a new programme that will see the government directly negotiate some arms deals, four Indian officials said. India is particularly targeting governments which have long relied on Russia for arms, two of the people said.

 

India's plans, which were detailed to Reuters by 15 people and have not been previously reported, mark an unprecedented effort by the government to inject itself into the recruitment and financing of foreign buyers as the world is rearming and longstanding geopolitical relationships are being recast.

 

Indian bureaucrats have long focused more on buying fighter aircraft from Russia's Sukhoi and howitzers from the United States to ward off China and Pakistan, Delhi's two nuclear-armed neighbors. While India has long had a small-arms production sector, its private firms have only recently started to make higher-end munitions and equipment.