India's defence exports grew 23 times in 9 years, surpassed $1.9 billion in FY 22-23

The Narendra Modi government completed nine years in power on May 30 and a report released on the same day stated that India had recorded an extraordinary 23 times rise in military exports during the same period. The government attributed policy initiatives and reforms as the driver of change.

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“India’s defence exports have reached an all-time high, surging from Rs 686 crore ($82 million) in FY 2013-14 to nearly Rs 16,000 crore ($1.9 billion) in FY 2022-23. This remarkable 23-fold increase reflects India’s progress in the global defence manufacturing sector," the statement said.

“To give a push to defence exports, the government has taken a number of policy initiatives and brought reforms over the last nine years. Export procedures have been simplified and made industry-friendly, with end-to-end online export authorisation curtailing delays and bringing ease of doing business,” it added.

The major destinations for India's defence product exports include the likes of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives,Italy, France, Russia,Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Poland, Spain, Mauritius, Bhutan, Israel and Ethiopia.

New Delhi has been exporting coastal surveillance systems, spares for radars, electronic systems and light engineering mechanical parts, personal protective items, offshore patrol vessels, ALH helicopters and SU Avionics amongst other items.

Make-in-India paying dividends?

For a country that has been heavily reliant on military imports since its independence, the meteoric rise in exports suggests that a defence manufacturing setup (still in its relative infancy)hasfinally started to pay dividends. The foundation of the defence manufacturing sector lay in the 'Make-in-India' initiative launched by PM Modi soon after ascending to power in 2014.

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Double joy as defence imports decrease

While India's exports grew, its defence imports declined by 11 per cent between 2013-17 and 2018-22. The decline has been linked to a complex procurement process, efforts to diversify arms suppliers and attempts to replace imports with local designs. India’s domestic procurement climbed to 68 per cent in FY22.

The next target envisioned by the government is to touch Rs 17,000 crore ($2.1bn) worth of defence exports in FY23.

Earlier this month, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that overall defence production had breached the Rs 1 lakh crore mark.

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“Defence production has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, armed forces are also being given cutting edge equipment and border road infrastructure is something that is a remarkable achievement.”

Earlier this year, while presenting the budget, Sitharaman announced that the defence budget was increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore.

The budget documents show that an allocation of Rs 2,70,120 crore has been made for revenue expenditure. This includes expenses on payment of salaries and maintenance of establishments. The budgetary allocation of revenue expenditure in 2022-23 was Rs 2,39,000 crore.

(With inputs from agencies)

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