India clears ₹2,400 crore defence procurement from startups and MSMEs, Rajnath Singh flags 90% ammunition self-reliance

Exam-focused facts from the 16 October 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

The Ministry of Defence has approved procurement worth over ₹2,400 crore from startups and MSMEs, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on October 16, 2026.
Defence projects worth over ₹1,500 crore have been approved to develop new technology for making the tri-services future war-ready.
India has achieved over 90 per cent self-reliance in ammunition variants, with 159 of the 175 variants in the Indian Army's inventory being indigenous.
Roughly 8,000 to over 12,000 MSMEs and more than 600 startups work as vendors, suppliers, and sub-tier partners for Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), ordnance factories, and the private defence sector.
India's defence exports grew from ₹686 crore in 2013–14 to over ₹38,000 crore in 2025–26, reaching nearly 100 countries.
Singh said all DPSUs have become profit-making entities following extensive structural reforms in the defence sector over the past 12 years, and urged adaptation to an era of "hybrid, high-tech and hyper warfare".