India's defence production reaches new milestone

The value of defence production in India has increased by about 80% over the past five years. (Janes/DDP)

The value of defence production in India reached a record high of INR1.50 trillion (USD17.2 billion) in fiscal year (FY) 2024–25, India's Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh has announced.

The newly announced value amounts to an 18% increase over the FY 2023–24 output of INR1.27 trillion, Singh said in a 9 August post on social media site X.

The total production value represents the annual turnover reported by India's defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs), other PSUs and joint ventures involved in defence manufacturing, and private defence entities.

According to Indian Department of Defence Production (DDP) data, DPSUs accounted for about 77% of the total production in FY 2024–25 with INR1.16 trillion. Private defence companies constituted the remaining 23% – a 2% increase compared with FY 2023–24 – with INR339.7 billion production value.

While the DPSUs recorded about 16% growth in FY 2024–25 over the previous fiscal year's production value of about INR1 trillion, private defence companies marked an increase of more than 27% over last year's value of INR266.7 billion.

In the last eight years, total defence production has increased steadily, with more than a 100% increase over the INR740.5 billion production value recorded in FY 2016–17, according to the DDP.

“This upward trajectory is a clear indicator of India's strengthening defence industrial base,” Singh said.

The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said policy reforms, new business strategies, and domestic production have contributed to the consistent year-on-year growth for the DPSUs and private companies.