On August 8^th, select AMCHAM Defense Committee members met with Mr. Anurag Bajpai, Joint Secretary (Defence Industries Cooperation), Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Government of India in New Delhi. Ms. Udaya Arun, Director, AMCHAM thanked the Joint Secretary and gave a backgrounder about the chamber. Mr. Alain Garcia, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President, Global Business Development – India, Boeing Defense Space & Security gave a brief overview of the defense sector and invited others to provide inputs. Discussions took place over IC credits – proposal for consideration, WOS entity – not recognized as an Indian company and a note on third country sale model for products made in India by U.S. companies. Mr. Samit Ray, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Regional Director Government Affairs & Public Policy, Raytheon Technologies Corporation shared challenges in obtaining an extension of OGEL license. Ms. Ashmita Sethi, Chairperson – Aviation Committee, AMCHAM and President & Country Head, Pratt & Whitney suggested having a proposal on addressing challenges regarding Indigenous Content (IC) credits and also volunteered to share data on taxation issues of MRO and SCOMET licenses. Mr. William L. Blair, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President and Regional Executive Asia & India Lockheed Martin, mentioned a need for better closure timelines. Mr. Adam Watson, Managing Director, BAE India shared about delays and long acquisition timelines while also highlighting BAE’s MSME partnerships in the country. The Joint Secretary reinforced that a private industry sharable document, ‘Roadmap for U.S. – India Defense Industrial Cooperation,’ was being worked upon and that the Ministry was keenly interested in looking for any technology that had a promising future i.e. had futuristic technology embedded in it. Mr. Gaurav Mehndiratta, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Partner and Head – Aerospace & Defense, KPMG India shared more details with the JS and team on how the wholly owned subsidiary of companies are allowed to discharge offsets now, but are not yet recognized as an Indian company. The Joint secretary was presented with the AMCHAM-KPMG report ‘U.S. – India Defence Partnership: The Road Ahead.’