The Indian Defense Ministry recently released some data on the volume of exports in the defense sector. The numbers show a 10-fold increase in the last six years which determines the historical record of New Delhi, for a value of 150.9 million Euros in the fiscal year 2022-23, up by +24% compared to the previous year, when it amounted to 120.8 million Euros.

The goal, as most announced by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is to transform India from an arms importer to an exporter of defense equipment. The recently published data in fact represent a further step towards reaching an export volume of 350 million Euros by 2025, according to what was declared last year by the Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh.

However, the 2022-2023 figure is 54% below the target set for this period. In fact, according to the Sipri report (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), India is among the 10 largest suppliers of arms in the world, however it lost a volume of orders equal to 11% between 2013-17 and 2018-22.

Despite Modi's push to privatize the defense sector to become self-sufficient, public companies are still today 57%. In the last five years Russia has been the largest supplier of arms to India, 45% of its needs, although in recent years they have decreased by +37%. Following the largest are France (29%) and the United States (11%).