UPDEX 2018

India is the world’s largest military hardware importer and among top five military spenders. To meet growing modernisation needs of Indian Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence will need to acquire equipment worth over $25,000 Crore by 2027. However, recent estimate shows that the current delivery capacity of the Defence industry sector in India is $7,500-8,000 Crore annually.

This means the ratio of indigenous to imported equipment is stagnating at 30:70. To achieve the aspirational target of manufacturing 70 per cent of Defence equipment indigenously, it is needed to incentivise private enterprise for development of large scale R&D and manufacturing capabilities. It is therefore necessary to increase the production level of Defence Manufacturing Units and establish new units for defence manufacturing to cater to the growing need of Defence Sector of India. We can also reverse the flow of trade : from being the largest importer of defence items to become the largest exporter of defence goods as well……