India has transitioned from being an arms importer and found a place in the list of the top 25 arms exporter nations due to tremendous effort from private sector and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), said the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in parliament on Monday.
This was possible, the Economic Survey outlined, because India’s defence production grew substantially from ₹74,054 crore in FY17 to ₹108,684 crore in FY23, boosting defence exports.
“India held the distinction of being the world’s second-largest arms importer. The narrative, however, has changed. India has transitioned from an arms importer and found a place in the list of the top 25 arms exporter nations,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Economic Survey.
Additionally, said the survey, there has been a rise in the number of export authorisations issued to the defence exporters. “From 1,414 export authorisations in FY23, the number has increased to 1,507 in FY24,” the Economic Survey read.
About 100 domestic companies are exporting a wide range of defence products and equipment such as aircraft like Dornier-228, artillery guns, Brahmos Missiles, PINAKA rockets and launchers, radars, simulators, and armoured vehicles.
The government has also broad based the focus of capex to include defence services into it. The Economic Survey said that along with other sectors such as road transport and highways, railways, and telecommunications, defence services helps deliver higher and longer impetuses to growth by addressing logistical bottlenecks and expanding productive capacities.
The Capital outlay in Defence Services went up by 7.9 per cent, from FY23 where it was ₹142.9 crores to ₹154.3 crores in FY24(PA), pointed out the Economic Survey.
It said to give a push to defence exports, the Government has taken several policy initiatives over the past ten years. Export procedures have been simplified and made industry-friendly, with end-to-end online export authorisation curtailing delays and facilitating ease of doing business.
Further, the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives have helped the country by encouraging indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment, thereby reducing dependency on imports in the long run.
Find the Economic Survey for 2023-24 here.