So far, the general perception, including the perception in India, was that we are not capable of using high technology. They simply refused to believe an Indian can do it! I somehow was not ready to accept that this is not possible.

We believe in the vision of 'Make in India,' and our proposed joint venture with Rafael is a step in this direction.

The Indian business has largely grown on the back of exports. The domestic markets, as far as our Indian business is concerned, actually have contracted because of the contraction in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle space.

India has the capability to create a fairly extensive defence manufacturing capability in many areas, and as a country and as an industry, we have matured in terms of technology and capability to make this happen.

We passionately set up a programme that we call the Indian gun programme. I challenged Colonel Bhatia, who heads our defence business, that let's build an Indian gun. There's a belief that Indian companies aren't capable of this, and we want to prove them wrong, as we did in components.

India is the second biggest defence procurer in the world after the U.S.