India records highest-ever defence exports worth Rs 13,000 crore
Defence exports have crossed the highest ever figure of Rs 13,000 crore in Financial Year 2021-22, with 70% contribution coming from the private sector and the remaining 30% from the public sector
Total Views | 234
New Delhi, July 9: India exported defence items and technology worth a record Rs 13,000 crore in 2021-22, an impressive 54.1 per cent rise over the previous year, according to the Ministry of Defence.
"In 2021-22, we have recorded Rs 13,000 crore of exports which is the highest ever exports number that we have recorded in defence,'' Sanjay Jaju, Additional Secretary in the Department of Defence Production (DDP), told a press briefing.
"During the Press conference Additional Secretary Shri Sanjay Jaju, responding to a question said that defence exports have crossed the highest ever figure of Rs 13,000 crore in Financial Year 2021-22, with 70% contribution coming from the private sector and the remaining 30% from the public sector," the Ministry of Defence stated in a press release.
Reports suggest that the country's defence exports are chiefly to the US, the Philippines and other countries in the South-East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The exports in 2021-22 were almost eight times of what they were about five years back.
Also Read: In a first, Rajnath Singh to launch 75 newly-developed AI-enabled defence products
India's defence exports were worth Rs 8,434 crore in 2020-21, Rs 9,115 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 2,059 crore in 2015-16. "There has been good progress. Of course, two years of COVID-19 was a bit of a setback. But this year, we have been able to record this number (of Rs 13,000 crore)," he noted.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the seminar at which 75 newly-developed AI products and technologies with applications in defence will be launched as part of the celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s Independence, and to promote ‘Aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in the defence manufacturing sector, defence secretary Ajay Kumar said.
The defence exports include missiles, the advanced light helicopter, offshore patrol vessels, personal protective gear, surveillance systems and a variety of radars. Besides, in January, India’s BrahMos Aerospace and the Philippines signed a deal worth almost $375 million for the Philippine Marines to acquire three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile, a shot in the arm for New Delhi’s efforts to emerge as an exporter of major defence hardware.
