Defence exports worth Rs 35,000 cr by FY25

India’s defence sector has undergone a radical revamp during the last few years. The Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, addressing a curtain raiser event of Defence Expo (DefExpo) at Gandhinagar, said that from being a defence importer earlier, India now ranks among the top 25 exporting countries. India is pacing fast to acquire the global standards of design, development and manufacturing of defence equipment, he added. 

The Minister informed, “Before 2014, we used to achieve (defence) exports of Rs 900 crore-Rs 1,300 crore. But we have achieved exports worth more than Rs 30,000 crore to date (since 2014). We can add another Rs 8,000 crore-Rs 9,000 crore of the export target (this year).”

He said that he has created a ‘positive indigenization list of 410 items and more than 3,000 components of public sector undertakings (PSUs)’, which India seeks to stop importing in the coming years. “We target to achieve (annual defence) exports worth Rs 35,000 crore by the end of FY 2025. We have achieved exports worth Rs 8,000 crore in six months (of FY 2022-23),” he said.