India Blacklists 6 Defence Firms

MoD Statement: The Ministry of Defence today decided to debar six firms- M/s Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd. (STK), M/s Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI), M/s Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD), Zurich, M/s Corporation Defence, Russia (CDR), M/s TS Kisan & Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi and M/s RK Machine Tools Ltd., Ludhiana – from further business dealings with the Ordnance Factory Board, Department of Defence Production, MoD, for a period of ten years.

The firms were recommended for blacklisting by the CBI on the basis of evidence collected against them. These firms were issued notice to show cause as to why action against them should not be taken consequent to the filing of the chargesheet in the case related to illegal gratification against former Director General of Ordnance Factories Shri Sudipto Ghosh and others.  The decision to debar was taken today after taking into consideration their replies.

35 thoughts on “India Blacklists 6 Defence Firms”

  1. Are these firms debarred from dealing with only the ordnance factory board or all wings of the ministry of defence/govt.

  2. what about the dealings related to Tavour Assault Rifles & Galil Anti-Material Rifles (Manufactured by Israeli Military Industries) which were being used & are presently being imported in huge nos. for the Indian Armed Forces….would those deals stand cancel…..if possible please throw some light on this issue Shiv…..

  3. You do not need arms or strategy to derail the Indian forces. Simply file a complaint alleging corruption and let our 'babus' do the rest!

    India must be the only country that,say in the Bofors scam,for an alleged loss of 60 crores has self-inflicted on itself a loss of 60,000 crores in lost value addition,technology and the cost of yet to be acquired arty pieces at today's prices. Very rarely have the Indian forces,if ever,accepted a lemon and yet we dump the entire acquisition.Does any body care to remember how much we lost on teh dumped HDW line.

  4. India Can Not Afford to BAN IMI,Dennel,STK as these firms are world leaders in the 155 guns which Indian Army is looking for induction on urgent basis..because of the acute shortage.
    In-fact Army has been scouting for
    1.Self Propelled Howitzers
    2.Light 155 Guns for mountain divisions
    3.Tracked and Wheeled 155 mm Guns.

    So if these firms have paid some commissions to brokers/dealers for a any purchase/deal …then these firms should be forced to pay huge fine/penalty amount instead of cancelling the entire contract so as to not to compromise our Armed Forces's requirements/supplies.

    Secondly a second round of technical study/testing/trial/audit can also be done of the vendor's product's to assure the Armed Forces that the Deal/Procurement does not compromise on any technical parameter /quality.

    Cancelling the contracts/banning the companies have resulted in Army not being able to buy a Single Piece of Heavy Artillery gun in last 30 Years after Boforce scandal(IA got only 400 155 mm SP guns instead of 1600 planned)..and now after Dennel,IMIand STK banned…who is left in the compition…the same old Boforce (Now part of BAE)and The BAE itself..and Govt of USA (for Govt. to Govt. deal)..I guess..

  5. To see IMI in the list is a shocker!!

    Man, what does the CBI think of itself; GOD??

    They let off Kalmadi and others, and poke their noses into critical defense matters… IMI has some of the best tech. in the world on offer to India, without much spokes in the way.. Govt. of India MUST reconsider, or at least give some sort of concessions!! If Indian employees are corrupt and ask for favors, foreign companies will give it to them as they wanna do business in India.. Target corrupt people and not entire organization.. Otherwise, ban DRDO, HAL, ISRO, OFB, all..!!

    Ridiculous nation, with ridiculous policies!!

  6. "Director General of Ordnance Factories Shri Sudipto Ghosh and others"

    The above line is clear how these people asked money and those companies paid it. as they didnt want to loose the deal. everyone had to pay bribe.

    When the people in OFB are corrupt what they can do. I am sure CBI will not find any fault in OFB they are holier than Cow.

  7. Tragic day ….IAF 2nd Mirage crash in 10 days..MOD black lists 6 firms for 10 years…After every crash IAF will order a court of inquiry…But nothing is made public. ever..So who is responsible for this never ending crashes…IAF …..MOD!!!!Somebody has to pay….These planes are falling like birds..What will happen when there is a war??Will the MOD tell the reason for this carsh this time…Pakistan and China will be laughing at us.I am loosing all respect for the IAF..which I had always admired…Every crash is loss of hundreds of crores.And the MOD black listed 6 firms..Among them ST kinetics and Rehinmettal are offering thier howitzers for the army…Again the howitzers buy will be stuck in limbo..already delayed by 20 years..Now who will provide arms to the army..AK antony??He seems too busy securing his future to keep his image clean and compromising crucial arms buy..One CBI chargesheet and everything gone..What abt the corrupt politicians??What happens to CBI then…These Govt is full of idiots..Lastly tavor rifles can be purchased as isreal weapon Industry makes them Not IMI..they are deffrent

  8. …paves the way for FMS deals with the U.S ! Great – I like that. At least now the Army will get some guns to shoot with.

  9. Ok…. "CBI" first of all, stop poking your nose into defence matters.
    Second of all, If you're so serious about tackling with corruption, put Shri Sudipto Ghoshji, your dear ministers and politicians, your Kalmadi and group behind bars NOT blacklist firms that play crucial role in equipping the Armed Forces with modern weapons.

  10. The AK Antony govt's incompetence knows no bound. Being unable to curb corruption they do knee-jerk reactions and ban anybody on the mere allegations of corruption.

    Worse, the govt entities actually responsible for the corruption are usually spared, and the saga repeats itself a few years later. Case in point: If there were shady dealings between the OFB and these companies, shouldn't the OFB facilities also be blacklisted for fairness?

    It is because of this incompetence that we have the current artillery fiasco: The Indian Army can't buy new guns because the UPA government has blacklisted every major artillery manufacturer in the entire world!

  11. why are no politicians,army brass,beaurocrats,babus fired.With banning firms like IMI we r shooting ourselves in the foor.

  12. why are no politicians,army brass,beaurocrats,babus fired.With banning firms like IMI we r shooting ourselves in the foor.

  13. why are no politicians,army brass,beaurocrats,babus fired.With banning firms like IMI we r shooting ourselves in the foor.

  14. since the companies are important..we shouldnt take a moral stand on such things…also since there have been past instances of corruption all future instances of corruption must be allowed to happen

  15. To the people blaming AK
    if no action was taken inspite of the companies having been involved in corruption..then would everyone have said..yes..it was a good move to take no action…

  16. Shiv
    can you please provide some background story..as in what did they bribe the OFB people for..doesnt the army choose which guns to make??

  17. So basically the Govt. of India (MOD) bans companies for first offering bribes and then when accused of the same and asked for another bribe they ban them huh!! 🙂 our bureaucracy is reaching new lows of idiocy.

  18. In bribes, there is a giver and a taker, in this case there are multiple givers and a common taker, most givers are pressurized to an extent they have to cough up or lose the contract and now they are punished for that, however the common taker goes scot free and demands from a new giver, why is taker(s) let so loosely, why not ban him from everything first, what a shame really…

  19. the terminator

    Why ban only 6 defence firms? India might as well ban all firms doing business with it, starting with those from the US, Russia, France, Israel and the EU.

    If the 'ever vigilant' CBI has provided evidence of corruption on the part of the 6 foreign firms, WHO WERE THE RECEIVERS in India? Or has the CBI conveniently forgotten to mention the real culprits in India because they are all high ranking babus.

    It would be in India's interest if our St Anthony does everything in his power to acquire whatever the Armed Forces need in a transparent and legitimate manner before using the big stick on those firms.

    The Bofor scandal has deprived the Army of high-tech artillery for a few decades and with this rash ban, the IA will be ill-prepared for any large scale offensive.

    First the MOD should learn to clean its house before going after foreigners, though no doubt the givers, can only do so if there are greedy babus in the procuring system of the MOD.

    If St Anthony wants to be seen as squeaky clean, then he should without fear or favour dismiss the rotten ones in the MOD.

  20. why do we allow Chinese companies to sell use weapons anyway – if you have been to Singapore you know they identify with the chinese….

    So we buy weapons from the Chinese to defend against the Chinese?

  21. Shiv, I'm a little confused. The statement can be interpreted in two ways:

    the firms are barred from dealing with "the Ordnance Factory Board, [which is a part of] Department of Defence Production, [which is a part of] MoD

    OR

    the firms are barred from dealing with "the Ordnance Factory Board, AND Department of Defence Production, AND MoD?

    So which one is correct?

  22. The best solution to all these issues will be to keep all the corrupt illiterate babus who dont know ABCD of their ministries and who totally depend on the secreteries of their ministries for everything on LOC infront of our tankers.. For sure firing will be from both sides india & Pak. One who will benefit from this is innocent tax payers!!!

  23. s.c.gupta ex IOFS

    same defence minister pave the way for his promotion to the post of chairman inspite of his corruption record.
    later on Mr B.S,Bhatia and Harnam singh promoted to the post of member fully ignoring the recorded facts that they are tainted officer
    ministry recommended thrice to cvc to give clean chit to Mr bhatia so that he can be made chairman OFB. Finally it could not be materalizes because of sudipta ghosh was caught during that time.
    systematic preptual corruption is group activity. defence minister can not be blamed. boss is sitting some where elso

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Scroll to Top