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SOURCE: AFI

In a recent social media exchange, Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of Zoho Corporation, emphasized the critical need for India to achieve technological self-reliance in key sectors like defense. His comments were in response to a tweet by Indranil Roy, who highlighted the importance of countries developing their own military aircraft, using historical and contemporary examples.

Roy’s tweet praised the indigenous Tejas fighter jet program, defending it against criticism regarding production delays. He pointed out that nations like the United States, China, South Korea, and Turkey have pursued self-reliance in aircraft manufacturing, contrasting them with countries like Japan, Germany, and the UK, which he suggested have compromised their technological independence by opting for foreign solutions.

The debate around India’s military aviation strategy has gained momentum, with some advocating for the purchase of foreign fighter jets to quickly bolster the Indian Air Force (IAF)’s capabilities. However, a significant portion argues for enhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities to ensure strategic autonomy in defense.

Sridhar Vembu echoed this sentiment by stating, “India has to invent jets and drones…For our size of population, for India to have its place in the world, we have to invent and invent pretty much every important piece of technology, crucial to national security and economic strength.”

Vembu stressed the challenging path to technological self-reliance, underscoring the role of the private sector. “The path to achieving that technological self-reliance is hard. It requires sacrifice—and most of that from our private sector. It is the private sector that has to step up and invest in long-range industrial R&D. It is a patriotic mission, not just a pragmatic calculus of profit,” he tweeted.

This call to action from a prominent tech leader like Vembu highlights a broader narrative in India’s economic and strategic discourse, where self-reliance (“Aatmanirbhar Bharat”) is not just an economic policy but a matter of national security and pride. His remarks resonate with the ongoing push for the Make in India initiative, particularly in defense manufacturing where India aims to reduce its dependency on imports.

The development and operationalization of projects like the Tejas fighter jet and the upcoming Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) are seen as stepping stones towards this goal. However, the journey involves overcoming significant hurdles including technology transfer, indigenous production capabilities, and the development of an ecosystem that supports innovation and high-tech manufacturing.