Indian defence production has crossed the ₹1.5 lakh crore mark, with private companies increasing their share in production and export of military systems, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday.
Lauding the collective effort that led to an all-time high figure of defence production worth ₹1,50,590 crore, Singh said that the milestone is a clear indicator of India’s strengthening defence industrial base. Officials said that in the 2024-25 FY, there has been an 18% growth over the previous fiscal’s output of ₹1.27 lakh crore, and a 90% increase since FY 2019-20, when the figure was ₹79,071 crore. The numbers have been achieved as the government has gone on overdrive to promote Indian companies to enter the sector and has initiated programs like Emergency Procurement (EPs) that have given orders to a large number of startups and smaller companies as well. Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and other PSUs accounted for around 77% of total production, while the private sector contributed 23%. The share of the private sector has been steadily rising, from 21% in FY 2023-24 to 23% in FY 2024-25, and is expected to go up exponentially in the coming years as several big projects have been opened up to competitive bidding. Dozens of companies, from backgrounds as diverse as automobile component manufacturing to civil works have entered the defence manufacturing sector as opportunities grow.
“Both public and private segments of the industry have demonstrated consistent year-on-year growth, attributed to far-reaching policy reforms, enhanced ease of doing business, and a strategic focus on indigenisation over the past decade,” officials said. There has been a surge in defence exports as well, with the figure growing to ₹23,622 crore in FY 2024-25, a 12% growth over the previous year.
