Defence industry of India

HAL Light Utility Helicopter
HAL Prachand
Tejas

The defence industrial sector of India is strategically important in India.[1] India has one of the world's largest military forces with a strength of over 1.44 million active personnel. The country has the world's largest volunteer  military of over 5.1 million personnel.[2] The total budget sanctioned for the Indian military for the financial year 2021 is ₹4.78 lakh crore (equivalent to ₹5.6 trillion or US$67 billion in 2023).[3][4] It has the third largest annual defence budget behind USA (US$732 billion) and China (US$261 billion). It is the second largest defence importer behind Saudi Arabia making up 9.2% of global arms imports. India has a domestic defence industry of which 60% is government owned. The public sector includes NTRO, CSIR, PRL, DRDO and its 50 labs, 4 defence shipyards, 12 defence public sector undertakings (PSUs). India has a new defence procurement, acquisition and manufacturing policy to reduce imports and enhance domestic manufacturing.[5]

"Defence Production Policy of 2018" (DPrP-2018) has a goal of becoming among the top 5 global producers of the aerospace and defence manufacturing with an annual export target of US$5 billion by 2025.[6][7] 12% of worldwide arms exports (by value) reach India.[8] India domestically produces only 70% to 75% of defence products it uses, and the rest are imported.[9] India's defence exports were ₹4,682 crore (US$0.66 billion) in 2017–2018 and ₹10,500 crore (US$1.47 billion) in 2018–2019, of 2018–2019 exports India's 8 Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) and 41 Ordnance Factories (OF) contributed ₹800 crore (7.6% of total defence exports).[6] During 2014 to 2018, India was the world's second largest defence importer.[10]

USA is the largest importer of Indian made materials, alloys, steel, components and sub-systems.[11][12] Armenia is the 2nd largest importer of Indian made finished weapon systems and equipment, , and France is a large importer of electronics and software.[13][14]

  1. ^ "The seven homegrown firms fighting over India's $620 billion defence market". Quartz. 20 February 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  2. ^ "29 Largest Armies In The World". WorldAtlas. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  3. ^ "'Small increase': Chinese state media takes a dig at India's defence budget". Business Today. 4 February 2021. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  4. ^ Iiss, ed. (17 January 2018). The Military Balance 2009. doi:10.4324/9781351225946. ISBN 978-1-351-22594-6.
  5. ^ Pandit, Rajat (4 August 2020). "Draft policy seeks self-reliance for India in defence production". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  6. ^ a b India plans to be among top 5 defence producers Archived 5 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Conrad Courier, 5 November 2019.
  7. ^ "Nearly half of US arms exports go to the Middle East". Guardian. 12 March 2018. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  8. ^ Wezeman, Pieter D.; Fleurant, Aude; Kuimova, Alexandra; Tian, Nan; Wezeman, Siemon T. (March 2018). "Trends in international arms transfers 2017". sipri.org. SIPRI. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference mind1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "India is world's second-largest arms importer". The Hindu. 11 March 2019. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020.
  11. ^ https://www.eurasiantimes.com/usa-is-indias-no-1-market-for-defens/
  12. ^ https://theprint.in/defence/yes-indias-defence-exports-are-booming-but-guess-whos-the-biggest-importer/2231765/
  13. ^ Kumar, Bhaswar (28 October 2024). "Indian defence exports: From BrahMos to Akash, who are the major buyers?". Business Standard. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  14. ^ https://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-defence-exports-at-2-6-billion-dollars-us-france-armenia-top-buyers-13829774.html