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Defence minister Rajnath Singh approved the latest list to cut down imports by defence public sector undertakings and achieve Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in the defence manufacturing sector, the ministry said in a statement.

This is the third list of “important line replacement units (LRUs)/sub-systems/ components” placed under an import ban. It comes on the back of two similar lists published by the government in December 2021 and March 2022.

“These lists contain 2,500 items which are already indigenised and 458 items which will be indigenised within the given timelines. Out of 458, 167 items have been indigenised so far,” the defence ministry said.

The indigenous development of these sub-systems and components will bolster the economy, reduce the import dependence of DPSUs, help harness design capabilities of the domestic defence industry and position India as a leader in these technologies, it added.

The components and sub-systems sought to be produced locally include several items for Sukhoi-30 and Jaguar fighters, light combat aircraft and Dornier-228 planes; multiple systems for submarines, and equipment for T-90 and Arjun tanks.

To be sure, India has published three other lists imposing a phased import ban on 310 different types of weapons and platforms, including lightweight tanks, naval utility helicopters, artillery guns, missiles, destroyers, ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, light transport aircraft, long-range land-attack cruise missiles, basic trainer aircraft and multi-barrel rocket launchers.

The latest list has been put out by the defence ministry at a time when the global backlash against Russia over its Ukraine invasion has raised questions about the fate of new projects with that country, procurement of spares for existing Russian-origin weapons, and maintenance and servicing of legacy equipment operated by the three services.

The earlier list, published in March, included sub-systems that India imports from Russia for weapons and platforms, including T-90 and T-72 tanks, BMP-II infantry combat vehicles, warships and submarines, and anti-tank missiles.

The government has taken several steps in recent years to boost self-reliance, including raising foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing, creating a separate budget for buying locally made military hardware and notifying lists of weapons, equipment and sub-systems that cannot be imported.

India is making planned, steady and focused progress to achieve Aatmanirbharta in the defence sector and several projects have been sanctioned for the local industry, former director general of military operations Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd) earlier said.

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Thanks to a number of measures and incentives, import ban, the iDEX programme, as well as Make-2 and DRDO programmes included, India is developing defence technologies that are on the cutting edge for the first time, sometimes exceeding the best the world has seen so far.

For the first time, the Indian defence industry is participating in the global supply chain in a significant way. It is supplying to leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide, which is a testament to Indian products’ quality and workmanship. This is evident from the fact that nearly 50 percent of the Indian defence exports from the Indian defence industry are going to leading OEMs in the USA. The US Sealift Command, which has started sending naval ships to Indian shipyards, has found the capability of Indian shipyards to meet the highest standards in the world.

India is also working towards greater innovation and manufacturing prowess when it comes to drones. The focus is on creating some global firsts in this field as well.

With indigenous weapons and platforms, a new dimension is added to their capabilities. They have an advantage over the adversary since indigenously developed niche capabilities can remain unknown to the enemy- something that is not possible with imported off-the-shelf equipment.

The rapid success achieved in development of military equipment is also in part to the credit of public-private partnership (PPP).

The three positive indigenisation lists issued by the Department of Military Affairs during the last two years are examples of the Armed Forces’ conviction in the capability of the domestic industrial ecosystem. These lists prescribe the 310 platforms and equipment services they have chosen to procure from the Indian industry as part of a roadmap that meets their requirements. Moreover, contracts worth Rs 2.2 lakh crores and projects worth Rs 5.07 lakh crores are in different stages of procurement by the three Services.

There are several instances where the equipment manufactured by an Indian vendor has exceeded in quality compared to the global version of the same equipment. A case in point is K9 Vajra, which provides several value-added services like predictive maintenance using IoT, which provides higher availability of the platform, a feature which was not available in earlier versions of the same equipment.

The government and services have provided extensive impetus for such solutions, and to such firms. Defence minister Rajnath Singh recently launched 75 artificial intelligence applications. The Indian Navy has recently decided to launch 75 challenges under iDEX for developing new and emerging capabilities- some of which are not offered by any country to India.

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Defence minister Rajnath Singh approved the latest list to cut down imports by defence public sector undertakings and achieve Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in the defence manufacturing sector, the ministry said in a statement.

This is the third list of “important line replacement units (LRUs)/sub-systems/components” placed under an import ban. It comes on the back of two similar lists published by the government in December 2021 and March 2022.

“These lists contain 2,500 items which are already indigenised and 458 items which will be indigenised within the given timelines. Out of 458, 167 items have been indigenised so far,” the defence ministry said.

The indigenous development of these sub-systems and components will bolster the economy, reduce the import dependence of DPSUs, help harness design capabilities of the domestic defence industry and position India as a leader in these technologies, it added.

The components and sub-systems sought to be produced locally include several items for Sukhoi-30 and Jaguar fighters, light combat aircraft and Dornier-228 planes; multiple systems for submarines, and equipment for T-90 and Arjun tanks.

To be sure, India has published three other lists imposing a phased import ban on 310 different types of weapons and platforms, including lightweight tanks, naval utility helicopters, artillery guns, missiles, destroyers, ship-borne cruise missiles, light combat aircraft, light transport aircraft, long-range land-attack cruise missiles, basic trainer aircraft and multi-barrel rocket launchers.

The latest list has been put out by the defence ministry at a time when the global backlash against Russia over its Ukraine invasion has raised questions about the fate of new projects with that country, procurement of spares for existing Russian-origin weapons, and maintenance and servicing of legacy equipment operated by the three services.

The earlier list, published in March, included sub-systems that India imports from Russia for weapons and platforms, including T-90 and T-72 tanks, BMP-II infantry combat vehicles, warships and submarines, and anti-tank missiles.

Russian-origin equipment forms the bedrock of India’s military capabilities and includes fighter jets, transport planes, helicopters, warships, submarines, tanks, infantry combat vehicles, multi-rocket systems, rifles, and even shoulder-fired missiles.

The government has taken several steps in recent years to boost self-reliance, including raising foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing, creating a separate budget for buying locally made military hardware and notifying lists of weapons, equipment and sub-systems that cannot be imported.

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He said a healthy mix of local endeavours and foreign collaboration was the bedrock of India’s journey on the road to self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.

“Scientific and technological as well as the economic development of a nation is reflected in the capacity of its weapons and ammunition. For India to become a world power and one of the leading countries in defence production, we must move forward in the indigenous design, development and production of ammunition,” he said during a conference, ‘AMMO India 2022,’ jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Centre for Joint Warfare Studies.

Import substitution of ammunition, which is a recurring requirement, is a top priority for the government. It has imposed a phased ban on the import of different types of ammunition to achieve self-reliance.

Singh said precision-guided ammunition will play a key role in future warfare — equal to weapons and platforms — due to its constantly-evolving nature.

He said the use of such ammunition played a critical role during the Kargil war and the 2019 air strikes on a terror base in Pakistan’s Balakot. “Earlier, only the size and explosive capacity of bombs mattered, but now their smartness is equally important,” Singh said.

The minister went on describe the advantages of smart weapons for precision targeting.

“If any enemy base is to be destroyed, then precision ammunition will selectively target it and not any civil establishments. This is not the case with traditional ammunition. Wars are fought with the country’s military, not with its people. Through precision ammunition, destruction of civil establishments can be avoided and the values of peace and humanity in times of war can be preserved.”

He enumerated the steps taken by the government to boost ‘aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in defence including curbing imports and allocating funds for domestic procurement.

The government has imposed a phased ban on the import of 310 different types of weapons, systems and ammunition (through three positive indigenisation lists) as well as earmarked ₹84,598 crore — 68 % of the military’s capital acquisition budget — for purchasing locally produced weapons and systems in 2022-23.

“Be it guided extended range rockets for Pinaka, advanced light-weight torpedo or anti-radiation missiles, there are 43 such items in the third (positive indigenisation) list. This reflects our commitment to achieve self-reliance in the field and our confidence in the research, development and manufacturing prowess of the domestic defence industry,” the minister said.
India on Tuesday cleared indigenous defence purchases worth ₹28,732 crore including armed drones, carbines, bullet-proof jackets and ammunition.

“India ranks among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of military spending, which makes it one of the most attractive markets for defence. We believe in having a healthy mix of local endeavours and foreign collaboration in this journey of self-reliance,” he added.

FICCI senior vice-president Subhrakant Panda said the ministry should begin trials of all import substitution options available in a time-bound manner to enhance the private sector’s participation.

“Indigenisation through handholding is the way to go,” he said.

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This was discussed in a meeting chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh on 8 July on targets to be achieved by India by 2047 as part of the Narendra Modi government’s Vision@2047. Other major targets discussed at the meeting were increasing the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the defence sector to 45,000 from 15,000 at present.

India’s defence exports in 2020-21 stood at Rs 13,000 crore, Sanjay Jaju, additional secretary (defence production), said. The Rs 2.6 lakh crore target by 2047 would hence amount to increasing the exports by nearly 20 times, the top source in the government said.

Indian defence exports have grown almost six times from Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 9,000 crore in the past five years, in which the participation of the private sector stands at 90 per cent, as per ministry of defence data. These exports are broadly going to 84 countries. A Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report of 2020 stated that India stands in the list of the top 25 countries in defence exports.

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This was discussed in a meeting chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday on targets to be achieved by India by 2047 as part of the Narendra Modi government’s Vision@2047. Other major targets discussed at the meeting were increasing the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the defence sector to 45,000 from 15,000 at present.

Government sources said what also featured in the discussions with the minister was increasing India’s current market share in the space economy to 15 per cent by 2047 from the current two per cent. They added that India is aiming to be a $1 trillion market by 2047, and this will involve a big investment in the space startup ecosystem.

India’s defence exports in 2020-21 stood at Rs 13,000 crore, Sanjay Jaju, additional secretary (defence production), said on Friday. The Rs 2.6 lakh crore target by 2047 would hence amount to increasing the exports by nearly 20 times, the top source in the government said.

“Increasing defence exports continues to be the top priority of the government and a target of Rs 35,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore by 2024-25 has been fixed,” the source added. The export of the LCA Tejas of HAL and Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles are the two major focus areas for exports with multiple countries showing interest in them.

The defence ministry is also working on a defence production and export promotion policy, which is learnt to be in its final stages. India is looking at exporting Advanced Light Helicopters Mark III to the Philippines and the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas to Malaysia. The talks between the two countries are at an advanced stage.

India has offered to set up a production line to manufacture LCA and choppers in Egypt, and plans to explore the African market for exports, the source quoted earlier told News18. India also recently inked a $375 million deal for the supply of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines. Indonesia is also a potential customer for the Brahmos and talks are ongoing between the two countries.

Ten sectoral groups of secretaries (SGoS) spanning all sectors have been working on preparing a set of targets and a roadmap to achieve them by 2047. One of the sectoral groups is on security and foreign affairs. This is the Modi government’s big roadmap for India’s 100th year of Independence.

Indian defence exports have grown almost six times from Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 9,000 crore in the past five years, in which the participation of the private sector stands at 90 per cent, as per ministry of defence data. These exports are broadly going to 84 countries. A Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report of 2020 stated that India stands in the list of the top 25 countries in defence exports.

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Releasing the third ‘positive indigenisation list,’ defence minister Rajnath Singh highlighted the pitfalls of operating imported weapons and systems whose software codes could be compromised and prove to be dangerous for the country’s security apparatus as it would open a “window of vulnerability.”

The list came out at a time when complications stemming from the wide-ranging sanctions slapped on Russia by the US and its allies on the back of the war in Ukraine have posed new challenges for the India-Russia defence relationship, put India’s military preparedness to the test and assigned new urgency to reduce dependence on imported military hardware to stay battle-ready.

These weapons and platforms will be indigenised in phases between December 2022 and December 2027.

Russia accounted for 46% of the country’s imports during the last five years even though India made fewer purchases from that country over the last decade. Its weapons exports to India fell 47% between 2012-16 and 2017-21, according to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) last month. Two-thirds of Indian military equipment is of Soviet/Russian origin.

The other military systems and platforms included in the third list are long range beyond-visual-range missiles that can hit targets at 250 km, long range guided bombs, medium range anti-ship missiles (ship launched), submarine-launched cruise missiles (anti-ship), long range reconnaissance and observation systems (Lorros), high endurance autonomous underwater vehicles, weapon locating radars, next generation offshore patrol vessels, anti-radiation missiles, counter-drone systems, rockets, torpedoes and other ammunition.

This list comes on the back of two similar lists of 101 and 108 weapons and systems released in August 2020 and May 2021, respectively. The new list has taken the combined number of weapons and systems under a phased import ban by India to 310.

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Emphasising the central government’s focus on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and overall maritime security, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on 1 February, announced a massive jump of around 43 per cent in the modernisation funds of the Indian Navy in the defence budget for 2022-23 at Rs 47,590.99 crore.

The Indian Air Force retained the biggest share of the forces’ capital budget at Rs 56,851.55 crore–an increase of just about 4.5 per cent from the previous financial year. But the Indian Army’s capital budget went down by 12.2 per cent to Rs 32,102 crore, from Rs 36,481.90 crore in the last fiscal.

The overall defence budget of 2022-23 at Rs 5.25 lakh crore is a jump of Rs 46,970.53 crore and 9.82 per cent over the budgetary estimates of Rs 4.78 lakh crore in the last financial year. This includes Rs 1.19 lakh crore as defence pensions for the Armed Forces, which increased by around three per cent from the previous fiscal.

Of this, the total capital outlay earmarked for the Armed Forces was Rs1.52 lakh crore—a 12.82 per cent increase from the capital budget of Rs 1.35 lakh crore allocated last year. The revenue budget of the Armed Forces stood at Rs 2.33 lakh crore—a hike of 9.89 per cent from the previous financial year. The fourth component of the defence budget, the civil budget for the ministry of defence, stood at Rs 20,100 crore.

In the previous financial year, the Navy’s capital budget was Rs 33,253.55 crore, but its revised estimates last year were hiked to Rs 46,021.54 crore, given its high pace of spending. The Navy also had a high total expenditure of Rs 41,666.76 crore in the financial year 2020-21. Among other things, the Navy is focusing on building its capabilities based on its threat assessments in the IOR.

As per senior government officials, the Army’s capital budget saw a cut due to its low expenditure through the financial year. This is also evident in the budget documents which show the mid-year revised estimates of the Army’s capital budget were cut to Rs 25,377.09 crore from the Rs 36,481 crore it was initially allocated.

The Army had spent just around 40 per cent of its budgetary estimates of the ongoing financial year, while the IAF had used about 70 per cent of its funds. The Navy had, so far, spent the highest of its capital funds at around 90 per cent.

The hike in both the capital and revenue defence budget is significant at a time when India continues to remain locked in a military standoff with China in eastern Ladakh. The capital defence budget is meant for new acquisitions and modernisation of the Armed Forces, while the revenue budget will be utilised for the maintenance and sustenance of the equipment, weapons systems by way of procuring ammunition, spares and will also cater for the salaries of the Armed Forces personnel.

Push Towards Indigenisation, Reducing Imports

The defence budget for the upcoming financial year also announced a 5.3 per cent jump in the DRDO budget, at Rs 11,981.81 crore—up from Rs 11,375 crore.

In her budget speech, Sitharaman said defence research and development will be opened up for the private industry, start-ups and academia. And 25 per cent of the defence R&D budget earmarked for the purpose.

Under this budget, the private industry will be encouraged to take up the design and development of military platforms and equipment in collaboration with the DRDO and other organisations through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) model.

The budget also announced the setting up of an independent nodal umbrella body for meeting wide-ranging testing and certification requirements.

Sitharaman said the government is committed to reducing imports and promoting Atmanirbharta or self-reliance in equipment for the Armed Forces.

The government’s push for indigenisation is also evident in the budget allocated for the newly created seven defence public sector undertakings (PSUs) from the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board.

The defence budget has set aside a total of Rs 3,810 crore for these seven new DPSUs—of which Rs 2,500 crore is for emergency authorisation and Rs 1,130 crore is to handhold them in the initial years.

In her budget speech, Sitharaman announced earmarking 68 per cent of the capital procurement budget for the domestic defence industry in the defence budget for 2022-23, up from 64 per cent in the previous financial year.

Separate earmarking of 58 per cent capital budget for the private domestic industry was first made in the financial year 2021-22.

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