India's defence export increased three-fold between 2015-20; Rajnath Singh

BANGALURU:

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday highlighted the various developments made in the defence sector in recent times.

The Defence Minister said this at the Bandhan Ceremony of Aero India 2021 in Bengaluru, today.

Singh said there is a robust growth across all fronts and defence exports have increased manifold in the last five years between 2015-20.

Stressing on the fact that a vast majority of the exports within this time frame was spearheaded in India, the Defence Minister said, "accumulated exports grew from Rs 2000 crore to Rs 9000 crore within this period".

He further stated that the government is planning to increase the defence base from $11 billion to $25 billion by 2025, of this, the export component will account for $5 billion.

The statement from the Defence Ministry read, "A large number of initiatives have been taken to invite and facilitate the partnership of major companies from across the world and to become a part of India’s defence industrial initiative. It is with this objective that FDI was raised to 74 per cent from 49 per cent in August 2020".

Furthermore, Singh highlighted the recent acquisition of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) MK 1A worth over Rs 48000 crore from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to boost the air defence of the country and the future plans to develop more advanced aircraft.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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