Defense Committee Meeting with Dr. Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, Government of India – 11 October 2019

AMCHAM’s Defense Committee called upon Dr. Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, Government of India on October 11th in New Delhi. Ms. Dipti Mohil Chawla, Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (LS) and Maj Gen HS Shanbhag, Technical Manager (LS), were also present in the discussions. Industry participants included Mr. Nik Khanna, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, India, BAE Systems, Mr. Gaurav Mehndiratta, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Partner and Head – North India, Corporate & International Tax, KPMG India, Mr. William Blair, Vice President and Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Sanjeev Kakkar, Director – Business Development, GE Aviation. From the U.S. Embassy, Capt.

Daniel Fillion, Honorary USG Chair – Defense Committee and Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy, joined the meeting. From the secretariat Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM India and Ms. Udaya Arun, Director – Aerospace & Defense, AMCHAM were present. Ms. Ranjana Khanna opened the meeting by thanking Dr. Kumar for his leadership roles and steered the discussions towards aligning AMCHAM activities and submissions towards the government’s vision. Dr. Kumar briefly discussed meetings between the U.S. Governemnt and Government of India and advised on preparation of agenda for submissions to the government.