Image courtesy- Cardekho T he Mahindra Group has scaled up its ambitions for its defence business, hoping to be able to take on bigger rivals such as Tata group and Larsen and Toubro Ltd ( L&T ) when large defence contracts are finally bid out to local companies that are outside government control. Private Indian defence firms, many of which pale in terms of technical capability when compared with foreign rivals, currently only deliver non-critical vehicles such as trucks to the military and supply parts and equipment to state-run establishments that cater to the more advanced requirements. But Mahindra and other private domestic defence companies are hoping to be called to bid for larger and critical projects after the government expanded the scope of its defence procurement policy in June last year. “Our goal is to have critical mass and scale which will allow us to have a diverse portfolio of different technological skills which together will allow us to tak