Military exports rising, but country still among biggest arms importers

Even as figures released by the Defence Ministry show an impressive increase in military exports and domestic manufacturing of military equipment, the dichotomy remains that India continues to be the world largest importer of weapons, arms and military equipment.

Yesterday, speaking at an event at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India’s self-reliance drive was “yielding desired results” and the country was poised to reach a target of Rs 50,000 crore in defence exports by 2029-30.

For the fiscal ending March 31 this year, India exported Rs 21,083 crore worth of equipment, to almost 100 countries. This is a huge increase from the year 2014-2015, when exports were a measly Rs 1,941 crore. Domestic manufacturing of military equipment stood at Rs 1,27,285 crore for the last fiscal. It was Rs 46,429 Cr for 2014-2015.

‘Make in India’ in defence equipment manufacturing is no more an elusive mirage, said an official, but added that despite locally making warships, fighter jet Tejas, nuclear submarine INS Arihant and missiles like Akash and BrahMos, New Delhi keeps on emerging among the top global importers of weapons.

The key imports are S-400 missiles, fighter jets, aero-engines, marine engines, armed UAV, among others. Sweden-based think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which tracks arms sales globally, in its annual report in March this year said India was the world’s top arms importer.

The SIPRI said: “India imported 9.8 per cent of all global arms trade between 2019-2023.: It compared two five-year blocks — 2014-18 and 2019-23 and said: “Arms imports increased by 4.7 per cent between these two five years.”

India continues to import selected niche technologies. A senior official said once aero-engines and marine-engines start getting made in India, the import figures will come down.

At the MoD, the focus is on ‘Make In India’. The Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) is engaging industries, including MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia, with a budget of Rs 498.78 crore for financial support.

Almost 75 per cent of the modernisation budget — that is Rs 1,05,518 crore — has been earmarked for domestic industries during this fiscal.

Some 12,800 items have already been indigenised, sources said. This list includes critical technology weapon systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircrafts, light combat helicopters (LCHs), radars, wheeled armoured platform, rockets, bombs, armoured command post vehicle, among others.

Further, the MoD is focusing on cutting edge, critical and strategic technologies such as satellite communication applications, advance cyber technology, autonomous weapons, advancement in semiconductor technology, AI, quantum technology (QT), nuclear technologies and advance underwater surveillance system.