HAL Followed Rules, NYT Report `Factually Incorrect And Misleading`: Sources-OxBig News Network

New Delhi: Terming a report in a US-based publication about an Indian defence PSU selling imported equipment to a supplier of Russian arms agency as “factually incorrect and misleading”, sources said on Monday that the report has tried to “frame issues and distort facts to suit a political narrative”. 

The sources said that the Indian entity mentioned in the report has scrupulously followed all its international obligations on strategic trade controls. 

“We have seen a report published by The New York Times. The said report is factually incorrect and misleading. It has tried to frame issues and distort facts to suit a political narrative. The Indian entity mentioned in the report has scrupulously followed all its international obligations on strategic trade controls and end-user commitments,” a source said. 

The sources also said that India’s robust legal and regulatory framework on strategic trade continues to guide overseas commercial ventures by its companies. 

“We expect reputed media outlets to undertake basic due diligence while publishing such reports, which obviously was overlooked in the instant case,” the source said. 

A report in the New York Times said that from 2023 to 2024, a company which is part of the British aerospace manufacturer H R Smith Group, shipped the equipment to an Indian firm that, it claimed, is the biggest trading partner of the Russian arms agency, Rosoboronexport. 

The report said Techtest sold another shipment of restricted technology to India on February 4, 2024 and claimed that days later Hindustan Aeronautics sold equipment with matching codes to a buyer for Rosoboronexport. 

The report admitted that the records do not prove that H R Smith’s products ended up in Russia. 

“But they show that, in some instances, the Indian company received equipment from H.R. Smith and, within days, sent parts to Russia with the same identifying product codes,” it said. 

India has a robust legal and regulatory framework on strategic trade and non-proliferation controls and is also a member of three key multilateral non-proliferation export control regimes.