India’s exports in defense sector

India’s exports in defense sector

 

  • India’s defense exports for the year 2021-22 was estimated at Rs 13,000 crore, which is the highest ever.
  • The US was a major buyer as well as nations from Southeast Asia, West Asia and Africa.

Key points

  • The private sector accounted for 70% of exports, while the public sector firms were responsible for the rest.
  • Earlier the share of private sector used to be 90% but now the share of defense public sector units has increased.
  • While India’s defense imports from the US have increased significantly in recent years, Indian companies are increasingly becoming part of the supply chain of US defense companies.

Recent Initiatives to Boost Defense Exports:

  • In January 2022, India signed a US$ 374.96 million deal with the Philippines for the supply of three batteries for the shore-based anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, its largest defense export order.
  • India has imposed a phased import ban on 310 different weapons and systems during the last two years, which has helped boost exports.
  • These weapons and platforms will be indigenized in several phases over the next five to six years.
  • Increased partnership with the private sector has led to a substantial increase in defense exports.

India’s Defense Exports:

  • Defense exports are the main pillar of the government’s campaign to achieve self-reliance in defense production.
  • More than 30 Indian defense companies have supplied arms and equipment to countries like Italy, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Russia, France, Nepal, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Israel, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Poland, and Spain has exported.
  • Exports include personal protective materials, defense electronics systems, engineering mechanical equipment, offshore patrol ships, advanced light helicopters, avionics suits, radio systems and radar systems.
  • However, India’s defense exports are yet to reach the expected limits.
  • Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) ranked India 23rd in the list of major arms exporters for 2015-2019.
  • India still exports only 0.17% of global weapons.
  • The reason for the disappointing performance in India’s defense exports is that the Defense Ministry of India does not have any dedicated agency for exports as of now.
  • India has set a defense export target of US$ 5 billion by 2024.

Defense Sector Initiatives:

 Defense Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020):

  • DPEPP 2020 is envisaged as a comprehensive guiding document to provide a focused, structured and critical thrust on the country’s defense production capabilities for self-reliance and exports.

Multidimensional step towards self-reliant defense sector:

  • Progressive changes have taken place with a focus to empower private industry.
  • DPP 2016 comes out with a new category called Indian IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured).
  • If an Indian company opts for Indian IDDM, it is given preference over all other categories.

Strategic Partnership:

  • A strategic partnership model allows Indian companies to collaborate with foreign OEMs and transfer technology and build and maintain projects in India.
  • First RFP for conventional submarines in operation.

Positive Indigenization:

  • For the first time, the government is banning itself on the import of a commodity, the government wants to empower the indigenous industry.
  • There are two positive indigenization lists of 101 items and 108 items, which range from platforms to weapon systems and sensors to maximum items.

Yojna IAS Daily Current Affairs Hindi med 11th July

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