India’s defence exports cross Rs 21K mark; registers 32% growth from last fiscal

New Delhi: India has registered a record of over Rs 21,000 crore of defence export in 2023-24 – 32 per cent increase from the last fiscal – suggesting a growing acceptance of home-made military products across the globe, the Defence Ministry said here on Monday.

The defence exports touched Rs 21,083 crore (approx $2.63 billion) in FY 24, a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore. The figures also reveal a 31 times growth in the last 10 years as compared to 2013-14.

“Indian defence exports have scaled to unprecedented heights and crossed Rs 21,000 crore mark for the first time in the history of Independent India! The exports have reached to the level of Rs 21,083 crore in 2023-24, which is a spectacular growth of 32.5 per cent over the previous fiscal,” defence minister Rajnath Singh said in a social media post.

While the private sector contributed nearly 60 per cent of the export, the defence public sector undertakings accounted for the rest.

In the last few years New Delhi has sold Brahmos cruise missiles, Pinaka rockets and launchers, offshore patrol vessels, Akash air defence missiles and 155 mm advanced towed artillery guns. Other export items include simulators, night vision devices, lightweight torpedoes, armoured protection vehicles and several types of radars.

But still the total export volume is miniscule when compared to the global business, even though India exports military hardware to 85 countries.

India doesn’t figure among the world’s top 25 arms exporting nations. Jordon with 0.2 per cent of the global export market sits at the 25th position.

However, when compared to the situation a decade back, India’s defence export has improved a lot with the Union government now setting a target of Rs 35,000 crore of defence export by 2025 out of 1.75 lakh crore defence production.

A comparative data of two decades between 2004-05 to 2013-14 (Congress-led UPA era) and 2014-15 to 2023-24 (BJP-led NDA regime) reveals a 21-time growth. The total defence export in the first decade was Rs 4,312 crore, which went up to Rs 88,319 crore in the subsequent ten years.

“The growth has been achieved due to the policy reforms and the ease of doing business initiatives brought in by the government, in addition to the end-to-end digital solution provided to Indian industries for promoting defence exports,” the defence ministry said.