T Natarajan, Additional Secretary, Department of Defence Production, stated on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), “Our target is to increase exports to Rs 35,000 crore in the next two years.”

According to Natarajan, enabling government policy is to blame for the roughly 10-fold increase in defence exports over the previous seven years.

The total value of defence exports in the fiscal year 2016–17 was Rs 1,521 crore. In 2017–18, it increased to Rs 4,682 crore, and in 2018–19, it increased again, reaching Rs 10,745 crore. Defence exports, however, started to decline during the following two years.

Exports picked up steam once more in 2021–22, increasing to Rs 12,814 crore from Rs 8,434 crore in 2020–21, the year that the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact. In the fiscal year 2022–2023, India’s defence exports reached a new high of Rs 15,920 crore.

The production and export of defence products in the nation are becoming increasingly dependent on the private sector, particularly MSMEs, according to Natarajan.

“In the past, for a variety of reasons, we have been heavily reliant on imports of different defence equipment. Perhaps the level of technological advancement we had at the time wasn’t sufficient to meet all of our needs, said Natarajan, who also noted that India was now a significant player in the defence export market.

India supplies a variety of weapons and equipment for the military, such as the Dornier-228 aircraft, artillery, BrahMos missiles, PINAKA rockets and launchers, radars, simulators, and armoured vehicles. Additionally, there is an increase in demand for domestic Indian goods on international markets, such the LCA-Tejas, Light Combat Helicopters, Aircraft Carriers, and MRO activities.

The Ministry of Defence revealed data last month showing that during the fiscal year 2022–2023, India shipped defence equipment to 85 nations.