Defence Exports by India to cross INR 24000 Crores in FY 2024
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister has said that the country’s defence exports would cross INR 24000 Crores (around 2.88 billions in US Dollars ) in the financial year FY 24. Speaking at an event at the AM Jain College in Chennai, Finance Minister said that defence exports in the current financial year was nearly INR 20000 Crores.
The finance minister also said that Ministry of Defence was signing Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) engaged in defence production for procurement for 10 years if the products met the prescribed standards. It is pertinent to mention here that such long-term contracts were not signed in the past.
A report released on May 30 this year said that India recorded an extraordinary 23 times rise in military exports in the last nine years when Prime Minister Narendra Modi first came into power.
“India’s defence exports have reached an all-time high, surging from ₹686 crore ($82 million) in FY 2013-14 to nearly ₹16,000 crore ($1.9 billion) in FY 2022-23. This remarkable 23-fold increase reflects India’s progress in the global defence manufacturing sector,” the report said.
To give a push to defence exports, the government has taken a number of policy initiatives and brought reforms over the last nine years. Export procedures have been simplified and made industry-friendly, with end-to-end online export authorisation curtailing delays and bringing ease of doing business. The defence ministry reported a rise of 10 times in exports since 2016-2017, with the country now exporting to more than 85 countries.
The major destinations for India’s defence product exports include Russia, Poland, Spain, Maldives and Nepal and now Phillipines, Vietnam and Armenia.
