By IOL South Asia Correspondent

NEW DELHI, January 30 (IslamOnline) — Indo-Israeli cooperation is deepening and diversifying fast with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an old pro-Israel party, leading the federal Indian government.

The Times of India on Wednesday, January 30, quoted Alon Weinstein, a manager of the Vocaltec Israeli firm as saying: “We feel very comfortable here.

“The Indian market has a lot of potential. We have been able to reach a very good understanding with our partners and customers and have had mostly good experience.

“I can say the same for some other Israeli companies that I know of.”

The newspaper quoted an India business executive as saying that Israeli business interest had grown in the wake of political intimacy after September 11.

“Israel faces similar threats as India and the present political regime is favorably disposed towards Israel.

“A heart-to-heart relationship has led to a head-to-head relationship,” he said.

However, an official at the Israeli embassy underplayed the political angle saying business relations were independent of political considerations.

Under the Hindu nationalist BJP, cooperation between India and Israel has deepened to the extent that Israel is about to overtake Russia soon as the largest supplier of arms to India.

Earlier this month, a senior defense ministry official said India and Israel had decided to jointly market the 14-seater civilian version of the advanced light helicopter (ALH), manufactured in India.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed between the ALH manufacturers, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), and Israel Avionics, the two companies will start marketing the chopper at the fourth International Aerospace Exhibition in the southern city of Bangalore from February 5 to February 9. HAL is a government-owned company.

Rakesh Srivastava, a joint secretary in the Government of India, said a military version of the chopper had drawn interest of Iraq, Mauritius and Sri Lanka as buyers.

The chopper is already being used by the Indian army, navy, air force and coast guard.

The military version of ALH, a twin-engine helicopter, can be used for operations, reconnaissance, anti-ship and anti-submarine operations.

Weighing five tones, it can operate in extreme weather conditions. The naval version has sonars and torpedoes while the army version is equipped with rockets and other weapons.

Besides defense, Israeli companies specializing in information technology (IT), security, agricultural tools, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals have begun to show keen interest in India.

Israel’s biotech company Teva Pharmaceutical is trying to set up a research and development base here.

It has signed a deal with JK Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, a leading Indian company with international business operations.

Among the Israeli companies that are here or have evinced keen interest in India are Radware, Vocaltec, RiT, TeleMessage, Gilat, Verint, Comverse, TTI Telecom, Shiron and Bezec.

Many of these companies operate in small niche markets, specializing in providing IT-related solutions or meeting specific security needs.

All that may create the impression that they are or could in future contribute greatly to India’s economic growth.

That impression is erroneous, as their operations are minuscule compared to European, American, Japanese or even Korean companies.

Their total foreign direct investment (FDI) of about $16.5 million between 1991 and October 1992 is a mere 0.84 percent of the FDI in India’s single sector — telecom.

BJP’s sister organizations, like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), are more vociferous in their support of Israel.

VHP’s Praveen Togadia publicly boasts admiration of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon because he is tough with Arabs.

Hindu nationalist groups have for years pleaded that with Israeli help Indian businesses will access more markets and Indian economy will grow.

No such thing has happened. Even the yearly remittances of around $6 billion from the Gulf states make the Israeli investment look negligible.

Middle Eastern joint venture companies like Indo-Gulf have a far larger scale of operations.