<p>There will be tremendous increase in defence exports from India in the next four to five years, chairman of the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) G Satheesh Reddy said on Thursday.</p>.<p>"Within next 4-5 years, this country will have a lot of indigenous content in the Indian armed forces and we will be seeing tremendous amount of increase in exports," he said at a webinar organised by industry body CII.</p>.<p>Reddy enlisted a number of measures the government and the DRDO have taken to boost the participation of private defence industry.</p>.<p>"In each project of ours, we have invited development and production partner from the industry. Even critical systems like missiles have been opened to the private industry," he said.</p>.<p>Recently, the government has approved the export of Akash missiles to various countries, he mentioned.</p>.<p>On December 30, 2020, the government had approved the export of indigenously-developed surface-to-air Akash missile system and set up a panel to ensure faster approvals for acquisition proposals by various countries.</p>.<p>Reddy said a country is "real atmanirbhar (self-reliant)" when the design, development and production of state-of-the-art systems that are required by the armed forces are done within the country.</p>.<p>India is one the largest importers of arms globally. According to estimates, the Indian armed forces are projected to spend around $130 billion in capital procurement in the next five years.</p>.<p>However, the government now wants to reduce dependence on imported military platforms and decided to support the domestic defence manufacturing.</p>.<p>The defence ministry has already set a goal of a turnover of $25 billion (Rs 1.75 lakh crore) in defence manufacturing in the next five years that included an export target of $5 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) worth of military hardware. </p>
<p>There will be tremendous increase in defence exports from India in the next four to five years, chairman of the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) G Satheesh Reddy said on Thursday.</p>.<p>"Within next 4-5 years, this country will have a lot of indigenous content in the Indian armed forces and we will be seeing tremendous amount of increase in exports," he said at a webinar organised by industry body CII.</p>.<p>Reddy enlisted a number of measures the government and the DRDO have taken to boost the participation of private defence industry.</p>.<p>"In each project of ours, we have invited development and production partner from the industry. Even critical systems like missiles have been opened to the private industry," he said.</p>.<p>Recently, the government has approved the export of Akash missiles to various countries, he mentioned.</p>.<p>On December 30, 2020, the government had approved the export of indigenously-developed surface-to-air Akash missile system and set up a panel to ensure faster approvals for acquisition proposals by various countries.</p>.<p>Reddy said a country is "real atmanirbhar (self-reliant)" when the design, development and production of state-of-the-art systems that are required by the armed forces are done within the country.</p>.<p>India is one the largest importers of arms globally. According to estimates, the Indian armed forces are projected to spend around $130 billion in capital procurement in the next five years.</p>.<p>However, the government now wants to reduce dependence on imported military platforms and decided to support the domestic defence manufacturing.</p>.<p>The defence ministry has already set a goal of a turnover of $25 billion (Rs 1.75 lakh crore) in defence manufacturing in the next five years that included an export target of $5 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) worth of military hardware. </p>