India Achieves Record ₹1.54 Lakh Crore Defence Production, Aims for ₹3 Lakh Crore by 2029
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Institutions: Ministry of Defence | Department of Defence Production & Export Promotion
India recorded its highest-ever defence production of ₹1.54 lakh crore in FY 2024-25, underlining the success of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan defence-manufacturing push. Indigenous production reached ₹1,27,434 crore in FY 2023-24—representing a 174% increase from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15. The defence-export figure also hit a new high of ₹23,622 crore in FY 2024-25, marking a sharp rise from less than ₹1,000 crore in 2014.
As part of the reform agenda, the government has issued 788 industrial licences to 462 companies, and more than 16,000 MSMEs are now engaged in the defence-industry ecosystem, signalling expanded private-sector participation. Concurrently, key procedural reforms are underway: the introduction of the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 and the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025 simplify acquisition, boost transparency and prioritise indigenously designed-developed-manufactured (IDDM) equipment. The goal is ambitious: achieving ₹3 lakh crore in defence production and ₹50,000 crore in exports by 2029.
This aggressive push towards indigenisation, underpinned by new frameworks like DAP 2020 and the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025, fundamentally shifts India from being one of the world’s largest defence importers to a global manufacturing and export hub, boosting domestic economic growth and enhancing strategic autonomy. For policymakers, the challenge now is to translate scale into sustainable capacity: building deep-tech innovation, strengthening MSME-supply chains, ensuring project-delivery discipline and opening new global market channels.
What is the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020?→ The Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 is a comprehensive policy framework launched by the Ministry of Defence to transform the country’s defence procurement ecosystem. It serves as a strategic roadmap by prioritizing the ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM}’ (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category, ensuring faster, more transparent procurement processes, and actively fostering indigenous innovation to reduce dependence on foreign imports.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What institutional, supply-chain and innovation-ecosystem reforms are needed to ensure sustained R&D investment and a predictable order pipeline for MSMEs to meet the ambitious ₹3 lakh crore defence production target by 2029?
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