India's military exports touch Rs 13,000 crore

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, July 8

India exported military equipment and technology worth Rs 13,000 crore ($1.66 billion) during 2021-22, creating a record for the highest exports in a financial year.

In August 2020, the government announced a target of $5 billion in exports annually by 2025 and domestic defence production at $25 billion.

Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, on Friday said only those items that were classified for military use were counted for export figures. Sanjay Jaju, Additional Secretary in the Department of Defence Production, said at a press briefing that exports in 2021-22 were almost eight times what they were a few years ago.

Generally, Jaju said, private sector companies dominate the defence exports market with a share of almost 90 per cent. Last year, Indian public sector companies also did well, contributing 30 per cent to the country’s defence exports, Jaju added.

Sweden-based think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in its report titled “Trends in international arms transfers-2021” released in March this year, placed India at the 23rd spot among top 25 exporters of weapons, with Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Armenia being its top customers.

At an event titled “Artificial intelligence in defence” slated for Monday, the Ministry of Defence will reward a private sector organisation and another from the public sector for performing well in defence exports. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the event.