Even as India achieved the highest-ever growth in indigenous defence production in value terms during FY24, the share of Defence Public Sector undertakings (DPSUs) and other PSUs manufacturing defence items fell to its second lowest in the last five years.
The indigenous defence production in value terms during FY24 stood at ₹1,26,887 crore, reflecting a growth of 16.7 per cent over the defence production of the previous FY23 which was ₹1,08,684 crore, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement on Friday.
Of the total value of production (VoP) in the FY24, about 79.11 per cent, which is ₹1,00,381 crore, has been contributed by DPSUs/other PSUs and 20.89 per cent, which works out to ₹26,506 crore, by the private sector, analysis of the data shared by the MoD revealed.
Private companies
Prior to FY24, DPSUs/PSUs reported their lowest share of around 79 per cent (between FY20 and FY24) of the total indigenous defence production in value terms in FY22. In the same fiscal, the share of private companies rose to 21 per cent, which was their highest in the review period. The total production in value terms stood at ₹94,845 crore in FY22.
Similarly, for the period between FY20 and FY24, the DPSUs/ PSUs reported their best year in FY23, when they clocked a share of more than 80 per cent of the total indigenous defence production.
In FY24, the share of DPSUs/ PSUs stood at ₹1,00,381 crore out of the total of ₹1,26,887 crore, which accounts for 79.11 per cent of the total. The share of private companies was ₹26,506 crore, or roughly 20.89 per cent.
Prior to FY24, DPSUs/PSUs reported their lowest share of around 79 per cent (between FY20 and FY24) of the total indigenous defence production in value terms in FY22. In the same fiscal year, the share of private companies rose to 21 per cent, which was their highest in the review period. The total production in value terms stood at ₹94,845 crore in FY22.
For the period between FY20 and FY24, the DPSUs/PSUs reported their best year in FY23, when they clocked a share of more than 80 per cent of the total indigenous defence production.
Make in India
Acknowledging the growth, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh posted on X “The Make in India programme is crossing new milestones, year after year, under the leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi.”
“India has registered the highest ever growth in the value of defence production in 2023-24. The value of production has reached to ₹1,26,887 crore in 2023-24 which is 16.8 per cent higher than the value of production of previous financial year,” he wrote.
The value of defence production in FY23 was ₹1,08,684 crore, while it was ₹94,845 crore in FY22, ₹84,643 crore in FY21 and ₹79,071 crore in FY20.
“The feat has been achieved due to the policy reforms/initiatives and ease of doing business brought in by the Government in the last 10 years with focus on attaining self-reliance. The indigenisation efforts have been pursued aggressively on a sustained basis, that resulted in the highest ever VoP,” the Ministry said in the statement.
Spiralling defence exports
The Ministry attributed the spiralling defence exports as one of the drivers to the overall growth in the indigenous defence production. The defence exports touched a record-high of ₹21,083 crore in FY24, reflecting a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was ₹15,920 crore.
Singh congratulated the industry, including DPSUs, other PSUs manufacturing defence items and the private industry for taking defence production to an all-time high.