India's defence exports achieved a record high of Rs. 15,920 crores in FY 2022–2023, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Saturday.
In response to Defence Minister Singh's announcement on Twitter, Prime Minister Modi tweeted, "Excellent! 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."
In his tweet, Defence Minister Singh described India's defense exports reaching a record high as a "remarkable achievement". He also detailed India's defence exports over the past few years - Rs 1,521 crores in 2016-17; Rs 4,682 crores in 2017–18; Rs 10,745 crores in 2018–19; Rs 9,115 crore in 2019–20; Rs 8,434 crores in 2020–21; and Rs 12,814 crores in 2021-2022 before hitting the all-time high of Rs 15,920 crores in 2022-2023.
Moreover, Defence Minister Singh stated that by 2024–25, the government aims to produce defense gear worth Rs 1,75,000 crore and increase defense exports to Rs 35,000 crores.
For the uninitiated, the government has put in place a number of policies recently to encourage local defence manufacture. India has been aggressively attempting to lessen its reliance on defence imports and give exports greater weight. It is the only nation among the top nations in the world to have considerably reduced its dependency on imports recently, with imports falling by 21% between 2017 and 21 compared to 2012 to 16. This is a result of the private sector and different state-owned firms placing a greater focus on domestic design and production of defense equipment.
Furthermore, the Indian government has set an ambitious goal of obtaining a $4.8 billion (Rs. 36,500 crores) export value by 2025 and to achieve this goal, India has been actively promoting its defense products to other countries.
Recently, India also inked a crucial export deal worth US$ 375 million (Rs. 2,770 crores) with the Philippines for exporting the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This agreement is anticipated to open opportunities for India's defense exports to other Asian nations, including Vietnam and Indonesia.
Additionally, India is negotiating the export of the BrahMos missile and the Akash Air Defence Missile Systems with various Middle Eastern nations, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia. These advances show India's expanding role in the global defense industry and its rising capacity to provide other nations cutting-edge and creative defense solutions.
