An import ban doesn’t mean that India can’t collaborate with foreign countries in order to build up its own defence capabilities. For instance, India’s current research with Japan focuses on technology that can further boost the efficiency of unmanned ground vehicles and robotics.
With the US, India is focusing on lightweight small arms technology and air-launched drones.
At home, HAL and BEL have set up the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), which has a Defence Excellence (iDEX) programme. So far, there have been rounds of the programme, which have led to designs for unmanned ground and underwater vehicles, GPS anti-jam devices, and individual protection systems among other things.