Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh highlighted that the defence budget would increase by 9.5 percent to Rs 6.81 trillion in 2025-26 from the current Rs 6.21 trillion. Rajesh Kumar Singh highlighted, "The current year's defence budget was Rs 6.21 trillion, which will go up by 9.5 per cent to Rs 6.81 trillion in 2025-26. We should be spending 30 billion dollars per annum over the next decade as part of modernisation. Out of this capex budget, 75 per cent is earmarked for procurement from domestic sources and 25 per cent of this is earmarked for domestic private industry."
He further stated that with the relaxation in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy and industrial licensing procedure will propel the growth in the defence industry. He also said that the total value of domestic production in India has reached Rs 1.27 trillion in 2023-24, wherein, exports have increased by 30X jump in the last 10 years to Rs 21,000 crores.
"It's very obvious that the defence industry in India is at the cusp of a massive expansion. The current industrial ecosystem of India, which comprises 16 defence PSUs, 430 licensed companies and around 16,000 MSMEs, is the pillar of this expanding industrial base. Our focus has to be on reducing the entry barriers, as I had mentioned earlier, for new players and for new technologies so that our defence industrial ecosystem becomes adaptive, agile and capable of responding quickly to the changing nature of future warfare, as we have seen in recent geopolitical conflicts," he further stated.
Earlier Rajesh Kumar Singh on Monday said that India would be looking towards the US with an "open mind" after the US President Donald Trump's offer to sell F-35 fighter jets to India. However, Singh has also clarified that the offer has not been formally made and the US would be exploring a roadmap to make the F-35 available.
"It is not an offer yet. What he (Trump) said is that they will look at a roadmap to make that (F-35) available. We will look into the offer after it becomes a firm offer. In any case, our procurements are done through a process... Creating an option is important for us and we will look into it with an open mind," Singh said.
Highlighting that the Defence Ministry has a procurement plan in place, he further emphasised that India's procurement process will guide any future decisions. He also mentioned that the country has a large acquisition budget of Rs 1,80,000 crore for the next financial year with Rs 1,60,000 crore stored for the current year.
The Defence Secretary said, "The Defence Ministry has a procurement plan for the kinds of things you have mentioned (fighter planes, submarines and missiles). But obviously those will be announced only after the procurement process is complete... Yes, there are plans... Obviously, India has a very large acquisition budget of Rs 1,80,000 crore for the next financial year and about Rs 1,60,000 crore for this financial year and we will intend to utilise them through these procurements.”
While addressing the joint press conference, Donald Trump on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, stated that the United States would be further driving the defence sales with India with billions of dollars. Trump also added that his administration is creating a roadmap to provide India with F-35 aircraft.
