'India targets $26 bn defence production by 2025'

Union defence minister Rajnath Singh Singh on Friday said under defence production policy, the defence ministry has set a target of $26 billion for aerospace, defence services and goods up to the year 2025.

In this, approximately $10 billion is targeted for creating job opportunities for 20-30 lakh Indians. The government also set a target to incorporate at least 25 AI (Artificial Intelligence) based products into defence in the near future.

In a video message at the Industry Synergy summit held at Research Centre Imarat (DRDO) here, the defence minister expressed his happiness about the synergistic environment being nurtured for boosting the indigenous development of defence systems and technologies. He added that DRDO is taking crucial steps for attaining self-sufficiency in the area of defence systems development. He wanted that this event should be a milestone event in creating the much-required synergy.

Chairman DRDO Dr G Sateesh Reddy said that the latest policies of DRDO like Zero ToT and Zero Royalty for Development cum Production Partners (DcPP), free usage of DRDO patents by Indian Industry have fostered closer interactions between Industry and DRDO. He said that Indian Industry has matured from ‘Build from Print’ to ‘build from Specifications’. It is time that DRDO takes a frontier research role and utilizes the industry for achieving the larger aims of designing advanced systems.

While addressing the industry representatives he also mentioned that there are working models where DPSUs and private industry participated constructively to produce crucial defence systems. There is also another model where joint design and development is done by DRDO and private industry. “DRDO is ready to look at any viable models where all stakeholders can contribute in a constructive manner.

Director General DRDO Dr Guruprasad said that imports are to be reduced as much as possible. Five industry representatives shared their experiences of working with the defence sector and brought out the challenges being faced by startups, micro industries and MSMEs in the area of defence manufacturing and exports.