Indian industrialists to take part in PM Modi’s power lunch with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu

Barely hours before Narendra Modi was greeted by Benjamin Netanyahu at the Ben Gurion airport, a group of Indian industrialists arrived in Tel Aviv to participate in the India-Israel CEOs Forum and listen to the two Prime Ministers at the power lunch on July 6.

Modi is the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel.

Over the next two days, 13 CEOs of Israeli companies -- including Joseph Weiss of Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Uzi Landau of RAFAEL Advance Defense Systems -- will interact with 18 Indian CEOs to hammer our new business deals.

The Indian delegation led by Pankaj Patel of Cadilla comprises, among others, Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge, Dilip Shangvi of Sun Pharma, AB Jain of Jain Irrigation Systems, Harshavardhan Neotia of Ambuja Neotia, Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys and Pratik Kumar of Wipro.

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The India-Israel CEOs forum are likely to sign a number of MoU in areas of defence, agriculture, irrigation and information technology.

Talking to Hindustan Times, one of the CEOs said that they were looking forward to PM Modi’s power lunch and his vision for Make in India with Israel before he departs for the G-20 meeting in Germany on July 6 afternoon.

A large number of Indian CEOs are looking for tie-ups in manufacture of defence material and latest agricultural technologies.

Already a number of Indian companies like Wipro have tied up or invested into Israeli company with an eye towards the Make in India pie.

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The Indian CEOs will also be interacting with the Israeli government for understanding the process involved in setting up of new joint ventures.

Modi will hold talks with Netanyahu to advance sales and production of missiles, drones and radar systems under the Make in India drive. India is now Israel’s biggest arms market, buying weapons at an average of $1 billion each year.

The two sides are also expected to announce strategic partnerships in areas including water, agriculture and space technology.

Modi will be discussing a plan for Israeli help in boosting India’s food security.

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The plan is to expand 26 agriculture expertise centres that Israel has set up in 15 Indian states to help increase output of everything from vegetables to mangoes and pomegranates.

Modi wants Indian companies involved in turning these small centres into commercial entities that would help tens of thousands of farmers to boost productivity.

(With agency inputs)