Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
. The value of defence production in the financial year 2022-23 has crossed the mark of Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time ever. Image Source: IANS
Incentivised by various government reforms, India is quickly ramping up its manufacturing capacity. The Government of India has been focusing on making India a ‘defence exporting nation’ rather than a ‘defence importing nation.’
One of the most significant moves made in the G20 summit in New Delhi was admission of the African Union as a full-fledged member of the grouping. The admission of African Union to the economic grouping was made with a view to provide a voice to the Global South and expand cooperation between the countries of the African Union and the other countries of the grouping. Apart from the economic cooperation, India is also eyeing to maximise defence cooperation with the African countries. Just before the world leaders met for the G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that Nigeria has approved the finalisation of a new $1 billion defence deal with India, expressing its interest in purchase of the Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, drones and armored personal carriers.
The upcoming agreement between the Indian Ministry of Defence and the Defence Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) was accepted by Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. By 2027, the Indian Ministry of Defence would assist DICON in becoming 40 percent self-sufficient in the production of military hardware. According to the Military Africa web portal, the DICON has been diligently striving to supply the Nigerian military's needs, but has been prevented from doing so by chronic financial mismanagement and a lack of funds. With the help of the Indian agreement, DICON will be able to rehabilitate and produce a variety of military goods, such as armored vehicles, modern communication systems, and firearms and ammunition.
India has been taking sincere efforts to provide a boost to its defence industry and bring Aatmanirbharta in defence. The value of defence production in the financial year 2022-23 has crossed the mark of Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time ever. “The value currently stands Rs 1,06,800 crore and it will go further up once the data is received from the remaining private defence industries. The current value of defence production in FY 2022-23 is a rise of more than 12 percent over FY 2021-22, when the figure was Rs 95,000 crore,” the defence ministry said in a statement. The ministry has been working actively to address issues and develop defence production in the nation in conjunction with defence industry and their organisations.
The inclusion of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups into the defence supply chain is one of the policy reforms the government has made, according to the ministry, to make doing business easier. According to the ministry, these policy changes have promoted active involvement from a range of businesses, including MSMEs and start-ups, in the design, development, and production of defence products. “Over the past 7-8 years, there has been a remarkable 200 percent increase in the number of defence licenses issued by the government, further stimulating the defence industrial manufacturing ecosystem in the country and creating substantial employment opportunities," the ministry added. India's defence exports, meanwhile, increased by 24 percent to an all-time high of Rs 15,918 crore in fiscal year 2022–23 from exports worth 12,815 crore the previous year.
The defence manufacturing sector has seen some major developments, investments and support from the government in the recent past. Considering the increasing security risks India is facing, the defence manufacturing sector is expected to experience significant expansion. This will increase demand for defence technology. Incentivised by various government reforms, India is quickly ramping up its manufacturing capacity. The Government of India has been focusing on making India a ‘defence exporting nation’ rather than a ‘defence importing nation.’
Source: Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence
In a huge boost to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence, Ministry of Defence, on March 30, 2023, signed contracts with Indian shipyards for acquisition of 11 Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels and six Next Generation Missile Vessels at an overall cost of approx. Rs 19,600 crore. Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata were awarded the contract for the purchase of 11 Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels under the Purchase (Indian-IDDM) category for a total of Rs 9,781 crore. Seven of the 11 ships will be locally created, produced, and designed by GSL, and four by GRSE. The delivery of the ships is scheduled to commence from September 2026.
The defence production in India has increased from Rs 74,064 crore in FY2016-17 to Rs 1,06,813 crore in FY2022-23. The Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) continue to dominate the Indian defence market as they remain the largest manufacturers of defence equipment in India. DPSUs are followed by the private companies. In recent years, the government has also encouraged the private players to play an active role in defence manufacturing and production and make India Aatmanirbhar in defence sector.
Though India has emerged as the world’s largest importer of arms from 2018-22, its indigenous defence production and measures taken to boost the defence exports cannot be ignored. The Ministry of Defence has also been rapidly increasing its footprint in the indigenous manufacturing of the advanced artillery systems. This was not only visible through the use of indigenous 105 mm howitzer at the Republic Day celebrations in 2023 but also through the use of Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) at the Independence Day Celebrations at the Red Fort in 2022. As part of the Indian Army's artillery modernisation programme, the DRDO has taken over the development of the new generation of weapons. Also, in order to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)}’ category in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 has been accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment.
Source: Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence
There was a decline in the defence production in 2018-19 and 2019-20. One of the major reasons was the covid-19 pandemic which resulted in the nationwide lockdown for a long period of time and also the disruption in supply chains. But the government once again ramped up its efforts to increase the defence production in India as this is evident from the figures of 2020-21.
Weapon Simulators, Tear Gas Launchers, Torpedo Loading Mechanisms, Alarm Monitoring & Control, Night Vision Monocular & Binocular, Light Weight Torpedo & Fire Control Systems, Armoured Protection Vehicles, Weapons Locating Radar, HF Radio, Coastal Surveillance Radar, etc. are some of the major defence equipment exported over the past five years. At present, the exports are being made to more than 80 countries all over the world. Names of the countries cannot be divulged due to strategic reasons.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)'s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is developing an indigenous Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) that will fly from aircraft carriers. As the current Mig-29Ks might not last until then, the 26 jets that will be purchased will fill the gap in the interim. The Navy now has two aircraft carriers in service: the domestically constructed INS Vikrant, which was commissioned in September of last year, and the INS Vikramaditya, which was purchased from Russia.
Also, recently General Electric (GE) USA and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed a MoU to jointly produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force.
Apart from a gradual increase in the number of countries importing Indian defence equipment, the numbers of India’s defence exporters have also increased. In 2016-17, there were 19 Indian defence equipment exporters. The number hit an all-time high of 76 in 2020-21. The rise in number of exporters can be attributed to the effective steps taken by the government in the implementation of the doctrine of Aatmanirbhar in the defence sector and by increasing the FDI in defence sector to 76 percent in 2020.
In an effort to provide a boost to the defence sector and increase the infusion of FDI, the government in September 2020 revised the regulations and permitted FDI under the automatic route up to 74 percent and 100 percent through the government route in any area, where it is likely to provide access to contemporary technologies. The Defence ministry has projected defence production worth $25 Billion by 2025. The iDEX (innovation for defence excellence) was launched in order to foster innovation and technology development in Defence by engaging Industries including MSMEs, start-ups, Individual Innovators, R&D institutes and Academia.
Private defence manufacturing companies, in particular defence equipment manufacturing companies in India, have benefited from this initiative as it created greater demand opportunities. These reforms are helping to meet the Aatmanirbhar Bharat objectives and also tend to establish India as a defence equipment exporting country in the world.
Apart from making its defence sector self-reliant and promoting Aatmanirbharta in defence manufacturing, India is also taking steps to make the African countries self-reliant in the production of critical defence infrastructure. Also, in order to develop close defence cooperation between India and the African countries, India-Africa Defence Dialogue and DefExpo was organized in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from October 18-22, 2023.
