Rs.1,521cr defence products exported in 2022-23
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has highlighted the Government’s efforts in developing a strong base of domestic defence industrial ecosystem to make India a strategic economy, saying that production has crossed the record figure of Rs.1 lakh crore.
“The total value of India’s defence exports, which was Rs.1,521 crore in 2016-17, has increased almost 10 times to reach a record level of Rs 15,920 crore in 2022-23,” he said at the 21st convocation ceremony of Tezpur University on 31 Dec 2023.
The ministry is making all efforts to achieve the target of becoming self-reliant in the defence sector, he underlined.
Highlighting the various steps taken by his Ministry to achieve Aatmnirbharta in defence, Rajnath Singh disclosed that for the first time, the import of arms was restricted.
“We issued five positive indigenization lists, under which 509 such defence equipment have been identified, whose manufacturing will now be done indigenously.
“In addition, we have also issued 4 positive indigenization lists of Defence Public Sector Undertakings, in which 4,666 items have been identified which will now be manufactured in our country,” said the Minister.
Rajnath Singh elaborated on the proactive attitude of the present government in tackling any situation, which has replaced the crisis of credibility with a culture of confidence.
Mentioning the start-up culture initiated by the Ministry in the Defence Industrial Sector, Rajnath Singh said the Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) has been successfully promoting innovative ideas since its inception.
“Because of the various efforts by the Government to promote entrepreneurship among youth, today there are over one lakh start-ups in the country,” he said. fiinews.com
