The country’s defence exports touched an all-time high of ₹15,920 crore in the Financial Year 2022-23, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on April 1. This is almost ₹3,000 crore more than the previous financial year and a rise of over 10 times since 2016-17, the Defence Ministry said.
“India’s defence exports have reached an all-time high of ₹15,920 crore in FY 2022-2023. It is a remarkable achievement for the country,” Mr. Singh said on Twitter.
"India is now exporting to over 85 countries, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
“Indian Industry has shown its capability of design and development to the world, with 100 firms exporting defence products at present. The rising defence exports and participation of 104 countries in Aero India 2023 are proof of India’s growing defence manufacturing capabilities,” it stated.
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The Ministry said that the country exports major platforms like Dornier-228, 155 mm Advanced Towed Artillery Guns (ATAGs), BrahMos missiles, Akash surface-to-air missiles, radars, simulators, mine protected vehicles, armoured vehicles, Pinaka rocket launch systems, ammunition, thermal imagers, and body armour among others.
“There is growing global demand of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Tejas, Light Combat Helicopters, aircraft carrier, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul [MRO] activities,” it claimed.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the achievement is a clear manifestation of India’s talent and the enthusiasm towards ‘Make in India’. “It also shows the reforms in this sector over the last few years are delivering good results. Our government will keep supporting efforts to make India a defence production hub,” he added.
Listing various initiatives taken to simplify export licensing and measures taken to boost sales, the statement said export leads received from various countries are disseminated to the registered Indian Defence Exporters through online portal on real-time basis to enable them to respond to export opportunities.
Regular reviews are held with Indian missions abroad to promote Indian defence products and facilitate Indian Industry. More than 40 webinars were organised with Friendly Foreign Countries (FFCs) with involvement of industry associations, the Ministry added.
As per the latest report on global arms transfers from the Swedish Think Tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released in March, India remained the world’s largest arms importer for the five-year period between 2018-22 even though its arms imports dropped by 11% between 2013–17 and 2018–22.
