Policy Watch: 31x rise in Indian defence exports in ten years
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Dear all,
War is good for business. Well, some business.
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict have been good for India’s defence exports, which have increased 31x in the last decade. Our Policy Watch this week covers this trends, including talking about how India's arms procurement from Russia has dropped since 2014 and how Ukraine accounts for 11% of India’s defence imports. Scroll down for more.
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Policy Watch: 31x rise in Indian defence exports in ten years
This 31-fold increase is from a small base of around Rs 686 cr (£90m at prevailing exchange rates). India’s Defence ministry data shows that exports jumped by 78% in the first quarter of 2024-2025. Defence exports in April-June increased to Rs 6,915 cr from Rs 3,885 cr 12 months earlier.
They hit a record Rs 21,083 crore (approximately £2.1 billion) in 2023-2024, a growth of 32.5% over the year before.
If this trend continues, Modi’s target in 2020 of exporting Rs 35,000 crore (£3.5 billion) in aerospace and defence goods and services for the next five years is likely to be hit.
One of the biggest reasons for this is India’s offset policies, which has meant the US has been obliged to set up production facilities in India including for Apache fuselages, which now supplies the world. The US now counts for around 50% of India’s total defence exports.
India is now not just selling hardware, but consumables too (like rockets, artillery shells, guns) and the government is actively pushing easier licensing systems and approvals, as well as being less coy about supplying lethal arms.
The government is also focusing on African countries to supply defence goods, with easier lines of credit and a diplomatic push. Myanmar continues to be a big consumer of fuses, ammunication and other similar exports, but Israel (sight systems, drones, fuses, ammunication) and Armenia (artillery guns and air defence systems) have also been important.
India's arms imports from Russia saw a significant drop after Russia's annexation of Crimea. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's latest reports, Russian exports to India have fallen from 76% (2009–2013) to 36% in 2019-2024. Ukraine now accounts for 11% of India's defence imports, as does Poland. Modi made a pit stop in Poland before heading to Ukraine in the last few days. As you may have seen above in this newsletter, Bridge India is a Partner to the Polish government’s flagship Economic Forum. We’re hosting a session on economic opportunities with India.
State-run Munitions India, which came into existence in 2021 after the corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board, achieved an export milestone of Rs 1,726 crore in 2023-24. It manufactures rockets, artillery shells and other munitions and ammunition just for export.
In the private sector, Bengaluru-based Indo-MIM is the largest exporters. They make metal injection molding parts (MIM), and is one of the world’s leading suppliers of precision-engineered products that use MIM as the core manufacturing technology. It has manufacturing facilities in the UK and US also.
India’s export ambitions have not matched reality in most sectors over the last decade, but aerospace and defence has been a big win.
Sources: ThePrint YouTube, The Print, SIPRI, Defence Production and Export at data.gov.in.
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