India’s defense production tops $12bn for first time

20 May, 2023 Rocket testing for Pinaka MLRS with increased range. Photo: Ministry of Defense of India The defense production in India has exceeded £12 billion for the first time.

This happened against the background of attempts by the state to reduce its dependence on arms imports from other countries, in particular Russia. This was reported by Reuters with reference to data from the Indian government. India's defense output rose by more than 12 per cent over the past financial year to cross the 1 trillion rupee (equivalent to £12 billion) threshold for the first time, the country's government announced on Friday.

In recent decades, India has become the largest importer of weapons in the world, depending on Russia for almost half of its military supplies. However, the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine has delayed critical supplies of spare parts to military equipment.

India's Arjun Mk-1A tank

This hindered the provision of tank and aviation units of the Indian Army, causing a delay in the supply of Russian air defense systems.

According to the Indian defence ministry, the cost of national defence production for the financial year that ended on March 31 rose to Rs 1.07 trillion. The figure is expected to increase after receiving data from some Indian private defence companies. The Indian Ministry of Defense added that in recent years the number of licenses issued for the defense industry had almost tripled.

In March, the Indian Air Force Command said in a report to the state defense committee that Russia could not supply India with the promised weapons because of problems caused by the war against Ukraine. The details of the problematic contract with the Russian Federation were not reported, but now the largest current contract for the Indian Air Force is the supply of S-400 Triumph air defense systems.

Launchers of the Russian S-400 air defense system. Photo from open sources

India ordered these air defense systems worth £5.4 billion back in 2018.

The Russian Federation began supplying the first batch of these systems in April 2021, however India has received only three out of five systems so far.

In April, supplies of Russian weapons to India were interrupted due to the inability of the parties to agree on payment methods.