India to record defence exports worth ₹ 17000 crores in FY23

Led by growing partnerships in the private sector and growing participation by MSMEs, India’s defence and technology exports are expected to reach ₹ 17,000 crores in 2022-23. The government is undertaking several measures to boost the Make in India initiative by ‘promoting indigenous design, development and manufacturing of defence equipment, platforms, systems, and sub-systems’.

Image Source: Press Information Bureau

Srikar K. Reddy, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India, while addressing the 2nd edition of India MSME Defence Week, informed that India’s exports of defence and technology items reached
₹ 13,000 crores in 2021-22, and with the continuing trend, exports are expected to rise further to ₹ 17,000 crores in 2022-23. He further added, “India has imposed a phased import ban on 310 different weapons and systems during the last two years, which helped boost exports.”

The joint secretary noted that defence manufacturing has become the critical focus of the Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat missions. He informed that the government is undertaking several measures to boost the Make in India initiative by ‘promoting indigenous design, development and manufacturing of defence equipment, platforms, systems, and sub-systems’.

While highlighting the role of MSMEs, he noted, “Participation of Engineering MSMEs in the defence manufacturing value chain is critical to reducing India’s defence imports. Defence and aerospace are among the few hi-tech manufacturing sectors where the participation of MSMEs has gradually increased, and overall output has increased multi-fold in recent years”.