Fighter aircraft and missiles, drones and guns, radars and ammunition, warships and naval platforms… the buzz in India’s military production sector is unmistakable. Set on the path to self-produce a range of military equipment and platforms, India’s journey remains long and arduous.
Long dependent on foreign countries to cater to its increasing military needs, the ‘Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) effort as the key driver of defence production is paying dividends. On Friday, the defence ministry came out with the numbers for defence production and they made for good reading.
In value terms, for FY 2023-24, India’s defence production touched Rs 1,26,887 crore, an unprecedented mark and a growth of 16.7 per cent from the previous year’s figure of Rs 1,08,684 crore. Of the Rs 1,26,887 crore, about 79.2 per cent has been contributed by defence public sector units and other state-owned public sector units while the private sector contributed 20.8 per cent, with both the state-owned and private sector registering a steady growth.
Last year, state-owned DPSUs—Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited—found a place in SIPRI’s ‘Top 100’ list in terms of value of defence production. Last year, HAL, BEL, and MDSL were ranked at 41st, 63rd and 89th places respectively. All these companies had benefited from major orders placed by the Indian armed forces in recent years.
The defence production value is calculated by totalling the production values of the nine DPSUs, private companies and the new seven government-owned professionally managed corporate entity companies that were formed on June 16, 2021 by restructuring 41 Ordnance Factories (OFs).
There has been an almost 200 per cent increase in the number of defence licenses issued to the industries in the last 7-8 years by the government.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh took to the social media platform ‘X’ with a post: “Many congratulations to our industry including DPSUs, other PSUs manufacturing defence items and the private industry. The government is committed to create more conducive regime for developing India as leading Global Defence Manufacturing Hub.”
The government has been pointing out many of its policy reforms and initiatives as well as ‘ease of doing business’ over the last decade as the reason for the increased production. Another key aspect is the integration of MSMEs and start-ups into the supply chain.
Export of defence equipment, platforms and systems too have been doing its bit. For 2023-24, India’s defence exports touched a record-high of Rs 21,083 crore—a growth of 32.5 per cent over the previous year’s figure of Rs 15,920 crore.