New Delhi: Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Friday asserted that India has rapidly emerged as the third-largest arms exporter to Europe, driven by surging demand under the "Rearm Europe" initiative and a broadening domestic manufacturing base.
Addressing the media, Singh emphasised that in India, our intention is to build up our defence industrial base, which traditionally used to be focused on some 16 odd public sector companies, government-owned companies, to a much wider defence industrial base, including the private sector, the small and medium sector, as well as the startup ecosystem that is becoming very strong in India.
Defence Secretary stated that the tangible economic and operational dividends of this transition are already materialising on a global scale.
He said, "In India, on the other hand, for the last 10 years, we've seen tremendous growth in our defence ecosystem. We have some, besides the 16 large public sector companies. We now have almost 840 odd companies with industrial licenses that are large and medium-sized, and some 17,000 small and medium enterprises, including startups. And the result of this diversified industrial base is becoming visible in terms of the value of domestic sales, which are now almost 17 billion euros."
Reflecting on recent trade reports, the Defence Secretary noted that international market dynamics have shifted drastically in India's favour over the past year.
"Our exports have reached an all-time high of 38,424 crores, which is about 3.6 billion euros, and I was reading a Bloomberg report yesterday, which said that suddenly over the last year, India became the third largest exporter of arms to Europe, mainly because of the Rearm Europe initiative. As a result, a lot of standard ammunition of different types, artillery shells, and large- and small-calibre ammunition started getting exported to Europe in significant numbers," Singh stated.
"We now export to more than 80 countries, and the in terms of policy, what we try to do is ensure that 75% of our capex every year, which is somewhere between 20 to 25 billion dollars every year, gets spent within the country, and we try to prioritise what we call IDDM, which is Indian-designed, developed and manufactured, to ensure technological sovereignty," he added.
According to Secretary Singh, the nation's military exports have scaled to an all-time high, distributing defence products to more than 80 countries globally. Beyond heavy artillery and ammunition, Indian defence shipments range from tactical gear like helmets and bulletproof jackets to small arms.
Emphasising that Indian defence shipments span a diverse spectrum of tactical goods and combat platforms, Singh said, "I mentioned that suddenly out the globe, we become the third largest whatever arms to Europe, one, mainly because of the artillery. In addition, we export a variety of equipment, including everything from bulletproof jackets and helmets to small arms. A lot of buyers, particularly in Southeast Asia, have contracts that are all in public negotiations. So here's a whole gammate of different types of defence components. Small arms of different types, artillery, gun systems of different types."
"These are the main platforms that we export to over 80 countries," he added.
"We used to rely on Russia as its largest defence supplier. We still have a lot of our equipment that is of Russian origin, but over time that dependence has come down and we diversified; we already have fairly strong bilateral relations with some European countries, France in particular. But also with several other countries as well. After Russia, France has the largest share of defence Imports, about 15% or so, they and Israel are almost equal in defence. I've just been on a visit to Greece and Cyprus, which are countries with whom we see a lot of strategic alignment. They are also recent partners; this is also our gateway," the Secretary stated.
Singh emphasised that this diversification allows India to scale up production rapidly to meet international procurement demands.
He said, "India intends to increasingly take part in Europe's arms procurement program. Not directly, but by setting up joint ventures in Europe. And of course, European Partners to set up joint ventures in India to access our defence market, and for us to set up joint ventures in Europe to access the European government programmes."
"Foreign entities aiming to tap into India's domestic procurement programs will continue to face local manufacturing compliance mandates, though officials acknowledge structural similarities in regional offset frameworks. While European firms are welcome to tap into India's lucrative procurement pipelines, officials emphasised that foreign entities must strictly comply with local manufacturing benchmarks, noting structural parallels between regional regulatory frameworks," Defence Secretary added.
Singh further stated that European countries can also take part in India's arms procurement programme, but they will have to meet our Make in India.
He said, "European countries can also take part in India's arms procurement programme, but they will have to meet our Make in India. Now when we want to go to Europe, we understand that we have you have similar norms, except that yours are a bit lighter. I think it's 25% localisation. requirements is there as against a minimum 50% here, but the spirit of these programmes is similar. And I hope that this partnership agreement can lay the base for a situation where the supply chains between European and Indian defence manufacturers become increasingly integrated, and that is what we sort of intend to work on."