Mahindra inks pact with Rafael for telephonics JV

Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday agreed to form a joint venture with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, as the Indian auto maker seeks to capitalise on the South Asian country's growing market for defense equipment.

Under the initial pact between the two companies, Mumbai-based Mahindra and Rafael will develop and manufacture naval systems at a factory in Pune, in western India.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director, Mahindra Group, said the company is in discussions with a number of players who have both offset obligations and possible alliances that will help address the offset requirements.
"We have not yet benefitted but we are putting in place an infrastructure that can benefit, another variety of fronts. Today, we signed two joint ventures, one with Telephonics in the US and Rafael of Israel. Both of them will be building very high-tech electronic systems in India, which will qualify for fulfilling the offset requirements of some of the vendors of defense equipment in India," he told the channel
On the aerospace front, we are putting up a very large plant in Bangalore, which will serve as a aerospace component