March 13, 2002

    A comprehensive formulation of the role, if any, which Authorised Representatives/Agents/or Sales Consultants employed by foreign suppliers for the promotion of their production, may legitimately be expected to play, has been receiving the attention of Government for some time. The entire policy has been extensively reviewed recently with the objective defining the scope, extent and condition within which such Authorised Representatives/Agents may be allowed to represent a foreign supplier or suppliers.

    Based on this review and in order to bring greater transparency to the whole procurement process and releasing that the presence of an Authorised Representative /agent would improve the delivery of services & follow up of post contractual obligations, the Ministry of Defence have on November 02, 2001 issued supplementary instructions on the appointment of Indian Authorised Representatives/Agents of foreign suppliers.

    The Ministry of Defence has been receiving request from various firms for the guidelines issued by the Government in this regard. No formal request for appointment of agents has however been received so far.

    The Ministry of Defence is acquiring equipment for the Services according to the detailed procurement procedure already in place.

    The Authorised Representatives would facilitate the availability of information, technical details and literature, trial evaluation, follow up of post contractual details. Currently, these activities are being done by the Original Equipment Manufactures (OEM) directly from abroad. The presence of an Authorised Representative of OEM would facilitate this process.

    This information was given by the Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes in a written reply to Shri Abani Roy in Rajya Sabha today.