Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that India will achieve the target of Rs 50 thousand crore export in the defence sector by 2028-29. Speaking at the Defence Summit organised by a private media organisation in New Delhi, Raksha Mantri added that the annual defence production of India is expected to reach Rs. three lakh crore in the same period.
Highlighting the major steps taken in the field of defence manufacturing, Mr Singh said the Ministry of Defence notified five positive indigenisation lists of the Services, comprising over 500 items. He added that four other lists have also been notified with over 4600 items for Defence Public Sector Units, to ensure that the soldiers use made-in-India weapons and platforms. The Raksha Mantri informed that in the Financial Year 2023-24, capital acquisitions worth more than 4 lakh 35 thousand crore rupees have been given in-principle approval till now. He added that the Ministry of Defence was allocated 6.21 lakh crore rupees in the Union Budget 2024-25, which is the highest among the Ministries.
Mr. Singh emphasised that radical changes have been made in the defence sector for long-term gains to make it completely self-reliant, and achieve the Prime Minister’s goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. He added that the Government is focusing on long-term gains and not short-term outcomes to make India ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. The Minister said that the government aims to manufacture high-end systems like aero-engines and gas turbines in India in the next five years.
