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DRDO, US working on 30
BUSINESS
high-tech projects
India Abroad
February 25, 2011
defense, needs export
licenses from the US
departments of commerce,
state and defense.
AJAI SHUKLA
India’s Defence Research & Development
Organization chief has revealed that his
organization is partnering with American
entities in developing at least 30 high-tech-nology defense projects.
Washington’s rapid relaxation of the
stringent technology denial controls that
Congress had placed on DRDO after India
tested nuclear weapons in 2008, comes
close on the heels of removing DRDO, the
Indian Space Research Organization and
their affiliates from the Entity List.
Addressing a press conference at the Aero
India 2011 air show in Bangalore earlier
this month, DRDO Chief V K Saraswat said
they were jointly developing ‘about 30 programs related to materials, services, and
manufacturing technologies. There are
some related to advanced communications
systems. There are many that are related to
low-intensity conflict.’
‘That licensing process is
the law and it will not
change,’ he said. ‘So we have
to see in the years to come…
what kind of trust is going
to develop between (the
DRDO) and the US on the
issue of licenses for dual use
items… That process will
become lenient only if there
is a level of trust.’
Indian Air Force advanced light helicopters Sarang. The 30 DRDO-US projects relate to materials, services,
manufacturing technologies, advanced communications systems, and low-intensity conflict, among others
Meanwhile, Washington
has stressed on high-tech
cooperation, a highlight of
President Barack Obama’s
visit to India last November. Commerce Secretary
Gary Locke dangled high
technology as a carrot to
induce New Delhi to provide trade incentives to
American companies during his recent visit to India
with a trade delegation.
Saraswat’s revelations could
ease skepticism among
Indian defense policymakers about
whether Washington intends to part with
high technology to India.
VIJAY MATHUR/REU TERS
DRDO has worked for years with Russian
and Israeli defense companies in developing weaponry, but featuring on the Entity
List had ruled out cooperation with the US.
Key DRDO platforms, including the Tejas
Light Combat Aircraft, the Akash missile
and the Arjun tank, suffered years of delay
due to the technology denial regime.
not coming,’ Saraswat said. ‘I presume that
there will be acceleration in our research
and development programs with the US.’
come and check whether we have used this
equipment in the place that I have indicated in my order. It is something like the End
User Monitoring Agreement,’ he said.
‘A lot of technology areas were identified
for working with the US, but because we
were on the Entity List… clearances were
He also revealed that the DRDO was per-mitting American inspectors to examine
equipment that was being imported from
the Untied States for use in DRDO projects. ‘We already have some agreements
with them… what is called post-delivery
inspection. Suppose they give some equipment, they can verify… they are at liberty to
Despite the DRDO-US projects under
way, Saraswat pointed out that the organization’s removal from the Entity List did
not mean that automatic clearance was
granted for whatever DRDO needed. US
law mandates that all dual-use items,
which includes everything related to
Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of
state, Political-Military Affairs, insisted
that Washington viewed India as a strategic
partner. ‘The removal of nine Indian entities from the Entities List was a significant
accomplishment,’ he said. ‘We’ve just had a
successful delivery of the C-130J… and we
hope to win the MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) competition.’
By arrangement with Business Standard
IndiSoft among top Asian-owned businesses
GEORGE JOSEPH
IndiSoft, a technology development company that focuses on systems for the default
services industry, has been named among
the Top 500 Asian-Owned Businesses in
the United States, as well as one of the Top
100 Diversity-Owned Businesses in
Maryland by DiversityBusiness.com, the
nation’s leading multicultural business-to-business website.
IndiSoft ranked 432nd on the former list
and 92nd on the latter.
“We strive to bring top-notch services and
innovative technology to the mortgage
industry, especially during these challenging economic times,” Sanjeev Dahiwadkar,
founder and chief executive officer,
IndiSoft, said. “We are proud to be recognized for our entrepreneurial efforts and to
represent diverse businesses across the
country.”
IndiSoft leads the innovation in transforming how the default servicing industry
Sanjeev Dahiwadkar, CEO, IndiSoft
communicates and exchanges information.
It is offering its platform to mortgage
insurers, investors, servicers, counselors
and homeowners with secured communications technology and the infrastructure
to enable transparent and real-time communication to speed up the decision and
execution of the same.
Its RxOffice platform, for instance, centralizes information about a borrower, giving lenders a chance to look for a pattern of
behavior that indicates a problem instead
of merely reacting to problems. For example, if a person changes his habit of paying
the credit card debt to the 15th of a month,
rather than the 1st, it is a clue that something could be wrong.
IndiSoft also received the 2010 10X
Award from Mortgage Technology magazine for having a lasting impact on the
mortgage industry with its RxOffice technology. It was ranked 259th in the 2010 Inc
500 listing of fastest growing private companies in the US, and was 15th in the finan-
cial services industry in the same ranking.
The company has now announced a partnership with Home Prevention &
Preservation Cares, a California-based
nonprofit dedicated to helping homeowners avoid foreclosure.
“We are committed to giving homeowners the tools they need to avoid foreclosure,
and RxOffice offers the process efficiency
to uphold our mission to help as many
individuals as possible acquire and
sustain homeownership,” said Katherine
Peoples-McGill, executive director, HPP
Cares. “IndiSoft understands our goals as a
nonprofit, and has worked with us to custom build a program to meet our unique
needs.”
“California continues to be one of the
states most affected by the mortgage crisis,
and HPP Cares is truly dedicated to
strengthening communities by promoting
education and awareness, which is exactly
what our industry needs in order to recover,” said Dahiwadkar.
