New Delhi, Apr 1 (FN Bureau) Riding on a series of policy reforms and Ease of Doing business initiatives of the Government, the Defence exports have increased to a record high of Rs 21,083 crore in 2023-24, witnessing a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last financial year, according to an official statement from the Ministry of Defence. Defence exports have touched a record Rs 21,083 crore (approx. US$ 2.63 Billion) in the Financial Year 2023-24, a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore. The recent figures indicate that the defence exports have grown by 31 times in the last 10 years as compared to FY 2013-14, the government said. “Delighted to inform everyone that the Indian Defence Exports have scaled to unprecedented heights and crossed Rs 21000 crore mark for the first time in the history of Independent India,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh posted on his social media platform handle ‘X’.
The Defence Industry, including the private sector and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), have made tremendous efforts to achieve the highest-ever defence exports. The private sector and the DPSUs have contributed about 60 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.In addition, there has been a rise in the number of export authorisations issued to the defence exporters during FY 2023-24. From 1,414 export authorisations in FY 2022-23, the number jumped to 1,507 in FY 2023-24.A comparative data of two decades that is the period from 2004-05 to 2013-14 and 2014-15 to 2023-24 reveals that there has been a growth of 21 times in defence exports. Total defence exports from 2004-05 to 2013-14 were Rs 4,312 crore, which has gone up to Rs 88,319 crore in the period from 2014-15 to 2023-24. The remarkable growth has been achieved due to the policy reforms and ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiatives brought in by the Government, in addition to the end-to-end digital solution provided to the Indian industries for promoting defence exports. This growth is a reflection of global acceptability of Indian defence products and technologies.