India on fast track to attain 'atmanirbharata' in defence sector

The ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of the Indian government seems to have achieved a significant milestone with India's defence exports reaching an all-time high during the financial year 2022-23.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, defence exports by India surged from Rs 686 crore in FY 2013- 14 to nearly Rs 16,000 crore in FY 2022-23. This is a jaw-dropping 23-fold jump in defence exports over nine years.

The statement went on to add that 100 Indian companies are engaged in the export of defence products.

The weapons platforms exported by India include the BrahMos missile, PINAKA rockets and launchers, the Dornier-228 aircraft, artillery guns, armoured vehicles, radars and simulators among others.

Along with the rise in defence exports, Indian imports of weapons and other defence equipment has also seen a decline in recent years.

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According to Sweden-based think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), defence imports by India fell by 11% during the five-year period between FY 2013–17 and FY 2018–22.

However, despite this decline, India continues to remain the world’s largest arms importer. Data released by SIPRI revealed that India is the biggest weapons export market for Russia, France and Israel.

“India’s tensions with Pakistan and China largely drive its demand for arms imports. With an 11% share of total global arms imports, India was the world’s biggest importer of major arms in 2018–22, a position it has held for the period 1993–2022. It retained this position even though its arms imports dropped by 11% between 2013–17 and 2018–22,” SIPRI said in a statement.

“The decrease can be attributed to several factors including India’s slow and complex arms procurement process, efforts to diversify its arms suppliers, and attempts to replace imports with major arms that are designed and produced domestically,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, between FY 2013–17 and FY 2018–22, Pakistan's imports of arms climbed by 14% and accounted for 3.7% of the global total. In FY 2018–22, 77% of Pakistan's defence imports came from China.

Overall, exports of armaments by the United States (US) climbed from 33% to 40% while shipments by Russia decreased from 22% to 16%.

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