New Delhi, Feb. 18: Defence minister A.K. Antony has ruled out allowing agents into defence deals but his deputy has now stepped in to say that there is need for a fresh look at the policy.

Minister of state for defence Rao Inderjit Singh today called for a public re-assessment of rules that forbid middlemen from negotiating arms contracts. “There should be a national debate on it (agents),” Singh said.

On Saturday, Antony said: “We cancelled two-three contracts. Do you want us to compromise on transparency? Even at a later stage, if we find something wrong… we will cancel it. Our policy is very clear — there will be no middlemen in defence deals.”

The defence minister and his deputy have begun this sideshow of their own in the middle of Defexpo 2008, India’s largest arms trade fair that ends tomorrow.

India plans arms purchases of nearly $30 billion over the next 10 years and as it goes about with its shopping list, arms manufacturers are closely following developments that could impact procurement.

Antony repeated the government line on agents on the inaugural day of the fair, just so that the assembled foreign firms and participants would have no doubt. But obviously what he thinks does not reflect the diversity in the security establishment.

Singh had said in the past, too, agents should be accommodated in the procurement process. “Even if we do not allow middlemen in defence contracts, they may be there in disguise. We cannot rule it out,” he said.

In 2002, during George Fernandes’s tenure as the defence minister, the Centre did permit registration of agents. But the rules for registration were so strict that almost nobody registered. Two years later, the government went back to its policy framed during the Bofors-kickstarted row and banned middlemen.

But now Singh has brought the rethink out in the open again. He may have timed his intervention to a nicety. The ministry is revising the Defence Procurement Policy. It is likely to be out in April.

Singh said he was in favour of shutting defence procurement out of politics.

In January, the Centre scrapped a global tender for 197 helicopters for the army after it suspected malpractice in selecting EADS Eurocopters.

In 2005, South African company Denel was blacklisted after a newspaper report that investigators in Johannesburg were digging into details of a deal to sell anti-material rifles to India. But, on Saturday, Antony ruled out cancelling a $1.5-billion deal with Israel after a Tel Aviv newspaper reported that agents were involved in selling the Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Command System to India.

The first of the aircraft from Israel is expected in September.