Bogged down by a legacy of scandals in defence deals and the consequent prompt blacklisting of vendor companies leading to immense procurement difficulties, the government has decided to legalise the
Bogged down by a legacy of scandals in defence deals and the consequent prompt blacklisting of vendor companies leading to immense procurement difficulties, the government has decided to legalise the “go-betweens” by allowing foreign firms to appoint “agents” to market their products to the Indian armed forces and the security forces.
“The thinking in the government is that agents will have to register themselves with the defence ministry. As of now no one knows who the agent is or what his antecedents are.
The agent will be paid a retainership or professional fees the quantum of which will be the same irrespective of whether the deal is finally bagged or not,” a defence source told this newspaper.
“This way, rather than blacklisting, we will penalise the company and continue using the equipment that has already been procured,” the source added.
Also, there will be a raft of monitoring measures in place, including opening a company’s books to scrutiny and not allowing any bonus on conclusion of a successful deal or penalty fees in the event of failed deals.
