New Delhi: India has clearly conveyed to friendly nations such as the US, Russia and France that the weapons and platform system required by the Indian Armed Forces must be produced here, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday.
Voicing the government’s goal to make the Indian Hub production of global defense and independently in its military requirements, Singh said agreed during the talks with French defense minister Florence Parly on Friday that the French company would produce “a machine” in India by joining the hand with Indian companies under the strategic partnership model.
Although the minister does not describe, this machine is most likely for military helicopters produced by the PSU Defense Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in the coming years.
Overcoming the Annual General Meeting of FICCI, Singh said the market value of making defense and Aerospace India will increase to Rs 1 Lakh Crore next year since the current RS 85,000 Crore.
“When I talked about ‘India exceeded 75’, I saw this number to Rs 5 Lakh Crore in 2047,” he said.
Noting that Indian defense exports have grown by 325% in the past five years, he said the country would not only achieve its export target of Rs 35,000 Crore in 2024-25 but it would also be a defense equipment exporter.
The minister also said the number 209 items placed under the weapons embargo under the ‘Positive Capital’ list so far will cross 1,000 marks in this decade.
India cannot depend on other countries for defense technology because of its stature, its geographical location and many challenging security.
“For Indian security and its people, we need to develop our capacity and ability of defense so that even the most powerful countries in the world have to think a thousand times before planning anything that endangers our interests,” Singh said.
“We have notified every friendly country that we want to produce military, weapons and ammunition platforms in India by considering state security …” he added.