The Manohar Parrikar-led Ministry of Defense in India will buy its requirement of close quarter battle carbines directly instead of going through the conventional route of floating global tenders for them.

“With repeated failure to procure it through the global tendering process, the ministry has to go for direct government-to-government sale for buying these weapons. It will speed up the acquisition process and will rule out allegations of corruption,” a senior ministry official said.

The New Indian Express reports that New Delhi has proposed an agreement under the ‘foreign military sales’ category for buying 10,000 such carbines directly from a country that is willing to supply them. The remaining 34,000 units will be manufactured in India under a production license.