New Delhi: Even seven years after the government invited arms agents to be registered, authorities are yet to get any response to it, despite frequent allegations of kickbacks in defence deals.

"So far no authorised Indian representative or arms agent has been registered by the Ministry of Defence," Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Lok Sabha today.

In a written reply, the minister said instructions to regulate authorised Indian representatives or agents of foreign arms supplier had been issued in November 2001.

Antony said the guidelines provided for regulation of representational arragements through a system of registration and open declarations by foreign suppliers of services rendered by their authorised agents and remuneration payable to them by ways of fees and commissions.

However, so far no agent or representative has come forward, he told the House.

Antony's comments come in the wake of recent suggestion mooted by his deputy Rao Inderjit Singh for a national debate on whether to allow arms agents to operate legally or not.
Source : PTI