India plans to expand missile and defence equipment production while boosting global defence exports

Key facts

• Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh announced that India plans to expand domestic production of conventional missiles, drones and other defence equipment to meet future warfare demands.
• The government is opening missile technologies developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to private manufacturers through technology transfers, with around 17 large private and public sector players having taken up or in the process of taking up these technologies.
• A new procurement framework provides five years of assured orders for successful defence startup prototypes developed against armed forces requirements, with contracts worth around Rs 2,000 crore generated so far.
• India's defence exports have reached a record Rs 38,424 crore (about €3.6 billion), while domestic defence production has risen to nearly Rs 1.78 lakh crore.
• India now exports defence equipment to more than 80 countries and has become the third-largest exporter of arms to Europe.
• BrahMos supersonic missiles have attracted significant interest from buyers in Southeast Asia, with some contracts signed and others under negotiation.
• India's defence industrial base includes nearly 840 companies holding industrial licences and around 17,000 micro, small and medium enterprises, beyond the traditional 16 large government-owned defence companies.
• The government prioritises Indigenous Design, Development and Manufacturing (IDDM) in procurement, followed by the 'Buy Indian' category, with pure global procurement as the last resort.
• India aims to spend 75% of its annual defence capital expenditure domestically, with annual capital outlay of around $20-25 billion.
• India is developing a domestic artificial intelligence layer for the armed forces in coordination with the IndiaAI Mission, with computing capacity already procured.