India’s Defence Imports: How One of the World’s Biggest Arms Buyers Became a Defence Exporter, 1947–2026

Zero Tejas Mk1A delivered; submarine deal nears Delay

Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh said the Air Force was down to 29 fighter squadrons against 42 authorised, and that not one Tejas Mk1A had yet been handed over, some two years behind schedule. ‘It is going to hurt us,’ he said. Three days earlier Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said India was in the final stages of approving Project 75(I), a deal worth more than ₹80,000 crore for six submarines to be built by Mazagon Dock with Germany’s TKMS.

Why it matters: the indigenous fighter is ready on the ground but waiting on an imported engine, and the next big naval programme is again a foreign design built in India.

₹1.1 lakh crore of approvals, ~98% Indian Policy

The Defence Acquisition Council cleared about ₹1.1 lakh crore of proposals, with around 98% to be sourced from Indian companies. They included Arudhra radars for naval air stations, ground-based jammers, mine layers, Advanced Light Helicopters and a programme to design and develop marine gas turbines, one of the propulsion technologies India still imports.

Indonesia signs for BrahMos Export

BrahMos Aerospace and Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in Jakarta, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit. In May, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh had confirmed at the Shangri-La Dialogue that a Vietnam deal was also signed. The Philippines was the first buyer, in 2022.

Production hits ₹1.78 lakh crore Data

The ministry reported record indigenous defence production of ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025–26, up from ₹1,54,071 crore and more than double the ₹84,643 crore of 2020–21. Defence PSUs made about 76%; private companies’ share rose to 24%. The same month India sent France a letter of request for the 114 Rafales, the biggest import programme in its history.

Exports reach ₹38,424 crore Export

Defence exports jumped ₹14,802 crore in a year to ₹38,424 crore. Defence PSUs exported ₹21,071 crore and private firms ₹17,353 crore, and the number of exporting companies rose from 128 to 145. Indian defence products now reach more than 80 countries, the ministry says.

Why it matters: exports have grown 56-fold since 2013–14, but they are still a fraction of what India spends on foreign weapons.

SIPRI: second-largest importer, Russia down to 40% Import

SIPRI ranked India the world’s second-largest arms importer in 2021–25, after Ukraine. Russia supplied 40%, France 29% and Israel 15%. SIPRI credited India’s growing ability to make its own weapons for a 4% fall in imports, but warned that planned orders, including up to 140 combat aircraft from France and 6 submarines from Germany, pointed to ‘continued and probably increasing reliance on foreign suppliers’. On 27 March the DAC cleared ₹2.38 lakh crore of proposals, including more S-400 systems from Russia.

Draft DAP 2026 and the 114-Rafale approval Policy

Two decisions two days apart captured the whole dilemma. The draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 proposed lifting indigenous content for Buy (Indian-IDDM) to at least 60% and requiring 30% even in Buy (Global) deals. Then the Defence Acquisition Council cleared buying 114 Rafale fighters, 18 ready-built and the rest made in India. The 2026–27 Budget set defence spending at ₹7.85 lakh crore.

97 more Tejas Mk1A ordered Build

The ministry signed for 97 Tejas Mk1A (68 fighters, 29 twin-seaters), taking orders to 180. The batch adds 67 more indigenous items, including the UTTAM AESA radar and the Swayam Raksha Kavach self-protection suite, with about 105 Indian firms making components. Deliveries are due from 2027–28. HAL later agreed with GE to buy 113 more F404 engines.

Operation Sindoor: a combat test Build

In four days of fighting after the Pahalgam attack, the government highlighted Indian and jointly made systems such as BrahMos and Akash. SIPRI’s reading is more mixed: both sides used imported major arms, and India’s French Rafales and Russian-supplied S-400s were among the systems widely reported in action. The episode strengthened the case for local production and supply security, and also sped up emergency foreign buys.

26 Rafale-M for the carriers Import

India signed an intergovernmental agreement for 26 Rafale Marine fighters for its aircraft carriers, because no Indian naval fighter was ready. The indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighter remains a future programme.

₹1.54 lakh crore production, ₹23,622 crore exports Data

Production was first announced as ₹1,50,590 crore and later revised to ₹1,54,071 crore. Exports were ₹23,622 crore. In July 2024 the Department of Defence Production notified a fifth DPSU indigenisation list of 346 items with an import-substitution value of ₹1,048 crore.

First Tejas Mk1A flies; first BrahMos export delivered Build

The first Tejas Mk1A flew for 18 minutes from HAL Bengaluru, on the month its first delivery to the IAF had been due under the 2021 contract. Weeks later India delivered the first BrahMos batteries to the Philippines, its first export of a major missile system.

₹2.23 lakh crore approvals, 98% domestic Policy

The DAC approved proposals worth ₹2.23 lakh crore, about ₹2.20 lakh crore of it, or 98%, to be sourced from Indian industry. These are approvals of need, not signed contracts, and they measure where money is directed, not how much technology inside is Indian.

75% of the capital budget reserved for Indian industry Policy

The ministry earmarked 75% of the capital acquisition budget for domestic industry, up from 68% the year before. Production reached about ₹1.27 lakh crore and exports crossed ₹21,000 crore for the first time.

INS Vikrant commissioned Build

India commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier, designed by the Navy’s Warship Design Bureau and built in Kochi with Indian warship-grade steel. Its gas turbines are General Electric designs and its jets are imported, a good example of how ‘indigenous’ is a percentage.

The Philippines buys BrahMos Export

The Philippines signed India’s first major missile export deal, for three shore-based BrahMos anti-ship batteries. It turned a jointly developed missile into a calling card for Indian defence exports in Southeast Asia.

Ordnance Factory Board split into seven companies Policy

The government dissolved the roughly 200-year-old Ordnance Factory Board and turned its 41 factories into seven corporations, including Munitions India, Armoured Vehicles Nigam, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India and Yantra India, to make them commercially accountable.

83 Tejas Mk1A ordered Build

The biggest indigenous fighter order to date: 73 fighters and 10 trainers. The first was due in March 2024. Because the aircraft depends on GE’s F404 engine, the contract also became the clearest lesson in what self-reliance still lacks.

First indigenisation list and DAP 2020 Policy

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced the first positive indigenisation list of 101 items, from artillery and assault rifles to corvettes, sonar and transport aircraft, to be bought only from Indian industry after set dates. The Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 made Buy (Indian-IDDM) the top category and raised its minimum indigenous content from 40% to 50%. Foreign direct investment through the automatic route was raised to 74%.

Two defence industrial corridors Policy

The government announced corridors in Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi, Chitrakoot) and Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur, Salem, Tiruchirappalli). By April 2026 the ministry reported ₹42,057 crore of commitments but ₹4,409 crore actually invested in UP, and ₹32,699 crore and ₹6,446 crore in Tamil Nadu.

Why it matters: commitments are far ahead of money on the ground, a gap worth watching.

Make in India puts defence on the industrial agenda Policy

Defence became one of the priority sectors of the Make in India campaign. Industrial licences were extended from 7 to 15 years in 2015, and the number of licensed companies grew from 258 in 2015 to 834 by March 2026. The baseline: ₹46,429 crore of production and ₹686 crore of exports in 2013–14.

Tejas: from first flight to first squadron Build

The Light Combat Aircraft flew for the first time in January 2001, 18 years after the programme was sanctioned, and entered IAF service with No. 45 Squadron in 2016. In May 2001 the government opened defence manufacturing to private Indian companies for the first time.

BrahMos: the joint-venture model Build

Rather than buy a Russian missile, India co-founded BrahMos Aerospace to design, produce and market a supersonic cruise missile together. Named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, it showed that a foreign partnership could build Indian capability rather than only dependence.

The big indigenous bets: missiles and a fighter Build

India launched the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme under A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, which produced Prithvi, Agni, Akash and Nag, and sanctioned the Light Combat Aircraft, managed from 1984 by the new Aeronautical Development Agency. Both took decades, but they built the design teams that later programmes relied on.

The Soviet turn Import

After the 1962 war with China exposed the armed forces’ gaps, India signed for MiG-21 fighters with licence production at HAL, and Moscow became its main arms supplier. The 1971 Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation cemented the relationship. For the next 40 years, most Indian tanks, fighters, submarines and missiles were Soviet or Russian designs.

Why it matters: licence production gave India factories and skills, but not ownership of the designs.

HF-24 Marut: the engine lesson Delay

HAL’s HF-24 Marut, designed by a team led by the German engineer Kurt Tank, became the first jet fighter designed in India. A planned more powerful engine never materialised, so it flew with underpowered Orpheus engines and could not reach its intended supersonic performance. Sixty years later, engines are still the hardest part.

Building the institutions Build

India inherited ordnance factories and repair depots but little design capability. It set up Bharat Electronics (1954), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (1958) and, by merging Hindustan Aircraft with the MiG project company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (1964). For decades they made more than they designed.