Eyeing $26bn defence sector by ’25: Rajnath

NEWDELHI: India has set its sight on becoming a $10 trillion economy by 2030-32 and is aiming at achieving a turnover of $26 billion in the defence sector by 2025, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday. His comments come at a time when the Indian economy is facing a slowdown.

“The current size of the Indian economy is around US$ 2.7 trillion and our goal is to make it to US$ 5 trillion by 2024 and subsequently to US$ 10 trillion by 2030-32,” the minister said. Singh was addressing an annual session of the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) on Make in India: Marching Towards a $26 Billion Defence Industry by 2025.

The target of $26 billion is in line with the country’s Defence Production Policy that visualises India as one of the top five countries in the aerospace and defence sectors in the coming years, with defence goods and services accounting for a turnover of ~1.7 lakh crore by 2025. According to the policy, achieving the target would require an investment of ~ 70,000 crore and could create up to three million jobs. Another goal is to clock exports worth ~35,000 crore by 2025.

Singh said the government was open to new ideas and committed to harnessing the energies, entrepreneurship spirit and enterprise of the private sector in the defence sphere. He added that simplification of procedures had resulted in defence exports of ~10,745 crore in 2018-19, a sevenfold increase over the figure two years ago. Singh has been a strong proponent of indigenisation in the defence sector.

In an endorsement for the Tejas light combat aircraft, Singh will fly in the back seat of a locally-made plane during a visit to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru on Thursday. He will also spend a night on board India’s sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya on September 28-29 off the coast of Mumbai. He will be the chief guest for three naval functions on September 28 — the commissioning of a submarine, launch of a stealth frigate and the commissioning of an aircraft carrier dry dock.