A technical oversight committee, constituted by the Ministry of Defence, is expected to give its findings early next month on the trial reports submitted by the Indian Navy on the performance of individual submarines of the two bidders competing for the mega ₹70,000 crore worth Project-75I.

A team of experts, including from the Indian Navy, visited the facilities of two bidders for fleet trials of conventional diesel-electric submarines equipped with cutting-edge Air Independent Propulsion Systems (AIP).

Meanwhile, a team of parliamentarians from Germany, both from the ruling and opposition sides, is in India to boost the chances of their country’s company, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, which has tied up with the defence PSU Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), for this Indian Navy project. The team has met MoD offials and is touring the MDL facility to gain firsthand insight into the capabilities of the defence PSU.

The other bidder is a conglomeration of Larsen & Toubro and Spain-based Navantia.

As the contractual process for acquiring six submarines enters a crucial phase of negotiation, Oliver Burkard, CEO of Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems(tkMS), which has tied up with the defence PSU Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) to bid for the project, exhibited confidence during an interaction with journalists here that technologically, they are superior to their rivals—Navantia.

“I think, from a from a technical perspective, it’s quite clear that it should be tkMS but we are patient.., we expect a decision from the the TOC . That’s not too fa away from today, by the beginning of next year. And after this de ision, we would be ready to go into the negotiations about pricing..”, Oliver Burkard said.

Hinting that unlike in the US, the regime change expected post-elections in Germany in 2025 will not impact the P-75I deal if they clinch it, he commented, “..The German government would like to see German industry invest more into India because it’s a growing market, and obviously P-75I, for example, is a very big deal. It would bring a ot of sub-suppliers and things like that with it. So it would creat investments, and it would bind the two economies closer together. So for all these easons, which are structural, they’re not political, and part of policy in Germany which is very unlikely to change…”

He reiterated that tkMS is offering proven AIP in “214IN,” the informal name of the boat, to India. It has been installed in 52 submarines that are being operated by 17 Navies across the globe.

Besides that, the CEO stated that they have offered to the government to make India a global hub for the repair and maintenance of such boats, given the market, especially in Southeast Asia. It will also improve the supply chain ecosystem to the advantage of the economies of both countries.

In the government-to-government deal, the German manufacturer is offering technology transfer that it said will help India scale up its capabilities for manufacturing next-generation submarines.

The tkMS CEO also said its Indian partner MDL is ready to take on the massive order and invest in infrastructure to build six submarines simultaneously.

Also, the defence PSU, he pointed out, has managed to indigenise 100 articles that would be used in submarines. The Indian content in the submarine will be 45 percent and would go up to 60 per cent towards the end of manufacturing of sixth boat,