India's defense exports surge to ₹13,000 crore — private companies beat govt

• India’s defense exports hit ₹13,000 crore during the fiscal year 2021-22.
• 50% of India’s defense exports from 2017 to 2021 were to Myanmar, followed by Sri Lanka at 25%.
• Defence Ministry is gearing up to launch 75 products in the domains of unmanned, robotics systems, intelligent monitoring systems, and more.

India's efforts to become self-reliant in the defense sector are showing positive signs. During the fiscal year 2021-2022, India's defense exports touched a record ₹13,000 crore, said Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar. This is an increase of 54.1 percent as compared to the financial year 2020-21.
The private sector accounted for 70 percent of the total exports, while the public sector companies did only 30 percent of the exports. In addition, Defence Ministry said the US was the principal buyer, following nations in Southeast Asia, Africa, and West Asia.
The defense official said India exports military hardware, including advanced light helicopters, missiles, offshore patrol vessels, surveillance systems, personal protective gear, and various radars. Besides this, light combat aircraft, air-to-air missiles, sonars, and Akash surface-to-air missile systems hold export potential for India.
In January, India signed a $374.96-million deal with the Philippines to supply three batteries for the BrahMos cruise missile. This deal emerged as the biggest defense export order for India.
Sources said the majority of India’s defense export is in the aerospace sector, in which Indian companies have been manufacturing fuselage for foreign companies. For example, all fuselages of the American helicopter Apache sold worldwide are made in India and developed by a joint venture between Tata and Boeing. Similarly, Lohia Group and Adani Defence are making fuselages for Israeli drones.

₹35,000 crore export in next five years

Back in 2020, Prime minister Narendra Modi's government had set a target of ₹35,000 crore export in the aerospace sector and defense services and goods in the next five years. In addition, over 100 products are in the pipeline, including infrastructure to process and store data for classified applications of AI.

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