The defense ministry said on Monday that India’s defense exports grew by 32.5% this fiscal year and passed the ₹21,000-crore mark for the first time. The country is still focused on growing both its military exports and its own defense industry ecosystem.
There were a record ₹21,083 crore (about US$ 2.63 billion) in defense exports in the Financial Year (FY) 2023–24. This is 32.5% more than the previous fiscal year, when the number was ₹15,920 crore. According to new numbers, defense exports have grown 31 times since FY 2013-14, which is 10 years ago. The ministry said this in a release.
It said that about 60% came from the private sector and 40% from defense public sector enterprises (DPSUs). It also said that the number of export authorizations went up from 1,414 in FY 2022–23 to 1,507 in FY 2023–24.
“Thrilled to let everyone know that India’s defense exports have reached a new high and passed the ₹21,000 crore mark, a first in the country’s independent past! In the fiscal year 2023–24, India’s defense exports hit Rs.21,083 Crore, which is a huge increase of 32.5% from the previous fiscal, wrote defense minister Rajnath Singh on X.
India wants to send 35,000 crore worth of defense goods abroad by 2024-25. At the moment, the country sends defense equipment to about 85 other countries through about 100 companies. It has a wide range of weapons, such as missiles, artillery guns, rockets, armored vehicles, offshore patrol boats, personal protective equipment, radars, surveillance systems, and ammo.
The statement said that defense trade increased by 21 times between 2004-05 and 2013-14 and from 2014-15 to 2023-24. From 2004-05 to 2013-14, India sent a total of ₹4,312 crore abroad for defense. From 2014-15 to 2023-24, that number rose to 88,319 crore.
“The Defense Ministry has taken a number of steps to boost India’s defense manufacturing and exports under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi.” The private sector and DPSUs that work in our defense businesses have done a great job in recent years. “Cheers to everyone involved for reaching a new milestone in defense exports,” Singh wrote further.
Because of policy changes and improvements made in the last nine to ten years, the government says, military exports have gone up sharply and imports have gone down.
In May of last year, the government said that the value of defense production in the country had crossed ₹1 lakh crore for the first time. This was made possible by major changes that helped the sector grow. It went up from ₹95,000 crore in FY 2021-22 to ₹1,06,800 crore in FY 2022-23. It was ₹54,951 crore five years ago. It wasn’t quickly clear how much defense production was worth in FY 2023–24.
India makes a lot of different weapons and systems, such as the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), different kinds of helicopters, warships, tanks, artillery guns, missiles, rockets, different kinds of military vehicles, and ammo.
In the past five to six years, India has put more effort into making its own weapons and taken many other steps to become self-sufficient. They want to stop the import of certain weapons, systems, and parts, set up a different budget to buy military equipment made in the country, raise the foreign direct investment limit from 49% to 74%, and make it easier for businesses to operate.
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