India revolutionalizing the defense sector

A sneak peek at India’s self-reliant journey in the defense sector

The Indian defense industry is on the path to brighter days in the future.???

From utilizing the capital on inter-governmental purchases like non-competitive or bilateral agreements to no longer depending on other countries for defense apparatus, it is no longer known as the “world’s biggest defense importer”.

The credit for this goes to robust innovations that have taken place in recent times within the sector. Innovations that are targeted towards developing a fully indigenous defense sector in the country.

Indian Defense Sector paving its way to global recognition?

India’s defense exports have grown 8 times in the previous 5-6 years. The Indian defense sector has set a target for manufacturing equipment of US$ 25 billion by 2025. India is one of the world’s biggest spenders with a total expense of Rs 5.25 lakh crore on its production. The sector has also expanded its weapons supplier horizon from Russia to Israel, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.?

This has turned out to be incredibly momentous for the country’s defense market.

Taking pivotal steps ahead

With all the growth that the defense sector is seeing globally, there is a lot of buzz about innovations that will take it to new heights.?

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is introducing India’s first-ever Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) in Malaysia. This will enhance the relationship with Malaysia and will lay a new foundation for an alliance with solidarity and respect.?

In the last 5 years, exports in more than 75 countries have increased by 334%.

A significant contributor to this is the policy initiatives that have catalyzed the path to creating excellent military apparatus. These interventions have amplified the design, development, and manufacturing of defense equipment.??

The key factors for the success

Government policies and initiatives have also played a pivotal role by amplifying the efforts toward making India self-reliant.?

The announcement of 18 major defense platforms for design and development procurement is an example of this.

As a part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, 25% of the defense budget has been allocated to these platforms for research, design & development listed above.?

Procurement of capital equipment?

The Defense Acquisition Procedure (DAP), which helps in the procurement and acquisition procedure for upgraded technology, has turned out to be a significant leap toward India becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024.?

Working towards championing the Make in India initiative, the sector is a building block for the nation’s economic strength. Hence the focus needs to be on designing and developing strategic partnerships through schemes and policies to reduce the life cycle cost and build a robust ecosystem.

Liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI)

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has turned out to be a great contributor to the economic growth of the nation. Liberalization of FDI is among various efforts taken by the Government of India to encourage development. FDI has increased in the defense sector by 74% through the automatic route and 100% through the government route. There is a hope that these efforts might lead to attracting FDI worth US$120-160 billion per year by 2025.??

Apart from these, the country now has two indigenous defense industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.?

Notably, India exported around Rs, 1,387 crores worth of defense-related tools, and equipment in just the first quarter of the financial year 2022-23. In the year 2021- 22, there was a 54.1% rise in defense and technology-related exports.?

These new initiatives and policies in terms of innovation and research are taking the Indian defense sector to new heights. The exemplary growth and evolution of the Indian Defense Sector is truly a momentous step toward the nation's journey of self-reliance.