SOURCE: MAHESHA M / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG
Department of Defence Production in India has launched a new website ” ddpdashboard.gov.in” which has a live dashboard putting out important information regarding the production of defense equipment in the country and as per information provided in the above chart India’s defense exports have more than doubled to nearly Rs 11,000 crore on the back of recent policy liberalization and access to the US market, given a large number of offsets being executed by domestic companies.
In 2018-19, India achieved defense export orders worth 10,745.77 Cr but a major chunk of those are coming from Export Authorizations given to Private Companies which make up 9,812.91 Cr leaving less than 10% achieved by Export by Defence Public Sector Undertakings/Ordnance Factory Board which stands at 932.86 Cr.
The biggest Purchaser of Indian defense exports has been the US, which accounts for nearly Rs 5,000 crore worth of exports in the same period, followed by Israel and the European Union. Several Private Indian defense companies are now part of US-manufactured Ecosystem of several weapons from F-18 fighter jets to Apache Gunships which is one of the reasons why these companies have become a driving force behind defense export in the country.
The Indian government is planning to further push Private and Public sector companies to export their equipment for that they will be issuing ‘Open General Export Licence’ which will give India further access to the global market as blanket permissions will be given on select items.
US Weapons contractors are happy with low cost of production in India and have agreed to procure several components of aircrafts and weapons system which are not in service with Indian armed forces . Other US Weapons contractors are doing this due to offset obligations which comes whenever India buys weapons system from the US Weapons contractors .