Defence Exports Reach Rs 38,424 Crore, Says Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a Defence Conclave in New Delhi on 27 September 2026 and said India seeks no other country's territory but will defend its security and strategic autonomy the moment either is threatened. Peace, he cautioned, should never be read as weakness, and there is no room for talks with any state that uses terrorism as an instrument of policy or shelters terrorists. He recalled the Prime Minister's remarks at the recent SCO meeting while making the point.

Exports and the defence budget

The Minister gave the figures for India's shift from buyer to supplier. Defence exports climbed from Rs 686 crore in 2013-14 to a record Rs 38,424 crore in 2025-26, reaching more than 100 countries. Having met a target of Rs 30,000 crore in the previous year, the government has now fixed a fresh goal of Rs 50,000 crore by 2029. The defence allocation stands at Rs 7.85 lakh crore in 2026-27, against roughly Rs 2.53 lakh crore in 2013-14. Around 75 per cent of the capital acquisition budget, or Rs 1.39 lakh crore, has been set aside for buying from Indian industry, which also feeds MSME supply chains.

Indigenisation numbers

Five positive indigenisation lists issued by the armed forces now cover 509 pieces of equipment, weapon systems and platforms. Defence public sector undertakings have brought out six lists of their own covering 5,417 items, among them line replaceable units, subsystems, spares and components, and about 3,300 of these have been indigenised. Through the SRIJAN portal roughly 33,000 imported items have been marked for substitution and about 15,700 already replaced, while SRIJAN DEEP has built a national digital database of more than 40,000 manufacturers and sellers. All 16 DPSUs are running without losses. The wider ecosystem now takes in private industry, startups, universities and over 16,000 MSMEs. The Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridors have drawn investment proposals of about Rs 70,000 crore, of which close to Rs 10,000 crore is already invested.

Startups and a missile decision

By March 2026 the iDEX and iDEX-Prime programmes had engaged 676 startups and innovators and signed 551 contracts, with ADITI supporting advanced technologies. Procurement worth more than Rs 2,400 crore from startups and MSMEs and development projects worth over Rs 1,500 crore have been approved. The conclave's main announcement was a decision to transfer DRDO-developed technologies for conventional missile systems to eligible Indian firms, letting qualifying private companies take up production so that missiles reach the forces on time and DRDO can concentrate on research.

The wider argument

Calling India a civilizational power whose rise rests on inclusive development, Rajnath Singh named three foundations, its democratic and civilizational traditions, the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and the vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and five strategic pillars of respect, dialogue, prosperity, security and culture. On the Global South he described India as a Vishwa Bandhu, pointing to 30 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses supplied to over 100 countries under Vaccine Maitri and to the Voice of Global South Summits. He warned that warfare now runs into cyber, space, electronic and information domains, alongside artificial intelligence, drones, quantum technology and hypersonic systems, and that national security is every citizen's duty and not the armed forces' alone.