After the Philippines government approved the purchase of BrahMos cruise missiles, India’s weaponry exports are seeing a surge under the Narendra Modi government.
From Rs 1,521 crore in 2016-17 to 8,434.84 crore, India’s defence export increased in 2020-21 to Rs. 38,500.25 as the government has set an ambitious goal of exporting aerospace and defence items and services worth over 35,000 crores ($5 billion).
India at present is second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of imports which in one way is a powerful foreign policy bargaining chip when it comes to acquiring state of the art weapons platform from multiple countries.
In the recent past, India and Armenia signed a $40 million agreement wherein the state-of-the-art weapon locating radar systems, designed and developed in India will be supplied to them.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) research has named three Indian firms in the top 100 defence corporations in the world in 2020 and they are Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Ordnance Factory Board, and Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL).
According to the study conducted by SIPRI, “Their combined arms sales of $6.5 billion in 2020 were 1.7 per cent higher than in 2019 and contributed for 1.2 per cent of the top 100 total,”.
The ink on the dotted line on the sale of Brahmos cruise missiles is expected to be signed on January 28 at the Philippines’ National Defence Department headquarters in Quezon City.
The $375 Million dollar deal is the biggest sale as of yet and defence exports are an important component of the Modi government to not only increase India’s influence in the world and also achieve self-sufficiency in the defence industry and a boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat.
That is why the Modi government has taken various steps to increase defence exports, including changing a section of the Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies (SCOMET).
By amending the SCOMET list India can now lawfully export parts and components of small arms and body armour for civil use after due consultation with the foreign ministry.
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