Indias defence manufacturing surged 16.8% in FY24, says Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Friday that India's defence manufacturing sector has witnessed an increase of 16.8 per cent in the fiscal year 2023-24. This significant increase marks the highest-ever growth in the country's defence production value. Singh highlighted that the total value of defence production reached Rs 1,26,887 crore this year, up from the previous year's figures.

"The Make in India programme is crossing new milestones, year after year, under the leadership of PM Shri@narendramodi. India has registered the highest ever growth in the value of defence production in 2023-24. The value of production has reached to Rs. 1,26,887 crore in 2023-24 which is 16.8% higher than the value of production of previous financial year," the defence minister said in a post on X.

Singh also congratulated Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the private sector for contributing to this milestone and reaffirmed the government's commitment to developing India as a leading global defence manufacturing hub under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

"Many congratulations to our industry including DPSUs, other PSUs manufacturing defence items and the Private industry. The Government is committed to create more conducive regime for developing India as leading Global Defence Manufacturing Hub," the minister added.

The central government has set a target of achieving indigenous defence manufacturing worth Rs 1,75,000 crore, including defence exports of Rs 35,000 crore, by the fiscal year 2024-25.

Notably, many global companies have either shared or shown intent to share critical defence and aerospace knowledge with India. Several policy reforms have been implemented to achieve the objective of ease of doing business, including the integration of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups into the supply chain.

India's defence exports have reached a record of Rs 21,083 crore (approximately USD 2.63 billion) in FY 2023-24, reflecting a 32.5 per cent growth from the previous fiscal year, when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore.

These recent figures indicate that defence exports have grown 31 times over the last decade compared to 2013-14.

Following the announcement of these production numbers, shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited surged by more than 1.5 per cent to Rs 5,601 on Friday. Indian defence PSUs have witnessed significant returns on equities in the past few years, benefiting from new orders.