Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday reviewed the annual performance of all 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings in New Delhi, calling for faster delivery timelines, reduced import dependence and a sharper push into global markets.
The review followed India’s highest-ever annual defence production of around Rs 1.8 lakh crore in 2025-26, with DPSUs accounting for Rs 1.29 lakh crore of that total, the Defence Ministry said. Singh chaired the meeting in the presence of senior officers.
Singh said DPSU performance was directly tied to national security, particularly as recent conflicts had underlined the need for assured supply chains, surge capacity and rapid repair capabilities. He asked companies to prepare for prolonged conflict scenarios.
He directed the DPSUs to cut delivery times, reduce imported-component dependence, convert R&D into operational technologies, expand exports, raise productivity through capital expenditure and deepen ties with startups and MSMEs. He said R&D spending should be judged by outcomes such as new technologies, prototypes and patents, not expenditure alone.
The 16 DPSUs include legacy majors such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, Bharat Dynamics Limited, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, BEML, Mishra Dhatu Nigam and Goa Shipyard, alongside seven newer companies including Munitions India Limited, Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited and Yantra India Limited that were carved out of the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board in October 2021 when its 41 production units were corporatised into standalone government entities.
Dividends and New Roadmaps
At the meeting, seven DPSUs, HAL, MDL, BEL, BDL, GRSE, BEML and MIDHANI, presented dividend cheques totalling Rs 3,951 crore to Singh towards the government’s equity share for 2025-26.
Singh also released four publications covering DPSU indigenisation and modernisation plans. These include a five-year roadmap for indigenising products and processes across the DPSUs and the DISHA initiative to expose students to defence technologies and modern manufacturing, alongside separate HAL-specific documents.
The push builds on a pattern of successive DPSU reviews chaired by Singh over the past two years, during which he has repeatedly pressed the companies on R&D, indigenisation and export targets while overseeing record production growth from Rs 1.27 lakh crore in FY 2023-24 to Rs 1.51 lakh crore in FY 2024-25 and now Rs 1.8 lakh crore in FY 2025-26.
The government has set a target of Rs 3 lakh crore in annual defence production and Rs 50,000 crore in defence exports by 2029-30, positioning the DPSU push as part of the broader “Make in India, Make for the World” strategy.
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