India’s Indigenisation Effort Has Upped Defence Production by 2.6 Times

Defence production in India has grown by double digits during the last decade. It has swelled more than double from Rs 46,429 crore in the fiscal year 2015.

A Moneycontrol analysis reveals that the pace of growth accelerates post-pandemic. The country sets a goal of Rs 3 lakh crore of defence production by 2029.

In 2023-24, India’s defence production reached Rs 1.27 lakh crore; the government is expecting it to hit Rs 1.6 lakh crore in this fiscal year.

Between 2019-20 and 2023-24, defence production grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 12 percent which was 11.2 percent growth during the first term of the government.

On January 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned three major naval combatants that have been developed and designed indigenously. INS Surat contains three-quarters of its components from indigenous sources, and  INS Nilgiri was designed by the Indian Navy’s Warship Design Bureau.

Simultaneously, India is seeing a rise in its defence exports. India’s defence exports reached Rs 21,083 crore in the fiscal year 2024, which is a rise of 33 percent from the previous year. Defence exports have increased by around 10 times since fiscal year 2015 when they were just Rs 1,900 crore.

“A comparative data of two decades, i.e. the period from 2004-05 to 2013-14 and 2014-15 to 2023-24, reveals that there has been a growth of 21 times in the defence exports. Total defence exports during 2004-05 to 2013-14 were Rs 4,312 crore, which has gone up to Rs 88,319 crore in the period from 2014-15 to 2023-24,” the government noted earlier this year in April.