India's Defence Export

Defence Industry in India: India’s defence export will more than double in the next four years, from $2.36 billion to $4.86 billion, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.

“India’s defence export is growing. In the last two years our export has been ₹17,000 crore ($2.36 billion), but given the HAL’s capacity in the next few years it can reach Rs 35,000 crore ($4.86 billion) by 2024,” said the defence minister.

“I am confident about it,” Rajnath Singh said at the Karnataka ‘Rajyotsava’ event organised by India’s state-owned aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

India’s defence export has seen a steady rise in recent years due to liberal policies adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

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The country’s defence export has jumped by seven-fold in just two years, from $213 million in FY 2016-17 to $1.5 billion in FY 2018-19.

Defence PSU’s key to increasing export

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme – Make in India in Defence, Rajnath Singh said that India cannot remain dependent on imports for long and state-owned defence companies will have to play a pro-active role to make the country self-reliant in defence production.

Defence Export set to double in next 4 years (Million USD)

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“We don’t want to see India as an importing nation. Instead, based on your strength, I can say that India is sure to become an exporting nation. Nobody can stop India,” he said.

Defence Industry to become engine of economic growth

Defence Minister said that there was no doubt in his mind that the country will be among the top three economies of the world in the next 10 years.

He said defence industry will play an important role in achieving this goal.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of doubling the size of the country’s GDP to $5 trillion by 2024.

India has already become the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2019 in terms of nominal GDP, surpassing France and the UK, according to the International Monetary Fund.

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“India’s economy is the fifth-largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion, overtaking the UK ($2.83 trillion) and France ($2.71 trillion) in 2019 to take the fifth spot”, said the IMF in the World Economic Outlook for October 2019.

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