Anil Ambani says Reliance group's shipyard is the only in the region that was selected by the US Navy for maintaining its over 100 ships of the US 7th Fleet.

Rebutting the allegations levelled by Congress president Rahul Gandhi that the joint venture between Dassault and Reliance Defence was okayed by the Centre despite the latter not having sufficient expertise in defence manufacturing, Anil Ambani wrote a detailed letter explaining the rationale behind the contract.

Reliance Defence is a venture of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

India Today TV has accessed the letter written by Anil Ambani to Rahul Gandhi on December 12, 2017.

In the letter Ambani claims that the joint venture is independent agreement between two private entities and that the government does not have any role in this.

The Congress, and Rahul Gandhi in particular, had alleged that the Centre had given a nod to the joint venture despite that fact that Reliance Defence does not posses sufficient expertise in the filed.

Speaking about the group's experience in defence manufacturing, Ambani says, "Not only do we have the necessary experience, but we are also the leaders in several areas of defence manufacturing."

He claims that the Reliance Defence has the largest shipyard in the private sector in Pipavav, Gujarat.

"We are currently building five naval offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Navy and 14 fast patrol vessels for the India Coast Guard," he says in his letter.

In regards to its previous international collaborations, Ambani said the Reliance Defence shipyard is the only one in the region that was selected by the US Navy for maintaining its over 100 ships of the US 7th Fleet.

Rebutting Congress's allegations, Ambani said the joint venture will be beneficial for the country because it will generate jobs and impart valuable skills to Indian engineers in the field of defence manufacturing.

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