Year Ender 2024: India's defence exports up 32.5% at Rs 21,083 crore

India's defence exports surged 32.5% in 2024 to Rs 21,083 crore. The government simplified export procedures, issued new export licenses, and promoted indigenization. With 145 approved Indigenous defence projects and new overseas offices, the sector continues its growth and self-reliance efforts.

New Delhi: With the year 2024 coming to an end, India’s defence exports sector saw a surge of 32.5 per cent to Rs 21,083 crore against Rs 15,920 crore over the last financial year.  The export value in the last six years stood at Rs 10,746 in 2018-19, Rs 9,116 in 2019-20, Rs 8,436 in 2020-21, Rs 12,815 in 2021-22 and Rs 15,920 in 2022-23.

In May 2024, the Defence Ministry further simplified the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for defence exports, thus making it more business-friendly. Provision for export of munitions list items for demonstration and for export of non-lethal items munition list as a sample for business development has also been made in the SOP for Export.

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The year 2024 also saw the Department of Defence Production promulgating three Open General Export Licenses (OGEL). 

OGEL is a one-time export license, which permits the industry to export items to the destinations as specified in the OGEL, without seeking export authorisation during the validity of the OGEL. OGEL has been expanded by increasing the number of countries and items therein.

In an effort to promote defence exports, the defence public sector undertakings have opened a number of overseas offices this year. 

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In a continuous pursuit of self-reliance and to minimise imports, the defence ministry notified the fifth positive indigenisation list of 346 items in June 2024. Earlier, four PILs comprising 4,666 items were notified by the DDP for DPSUs, of which 2,972 items, having import substitution value worth Rs 3,400 crore, have already been indigenised.

In 2024, 10 projects have been accorded 'Approval-in-Principle' bringing the total tally to 145 projects with regards to Indigenous Design & Development of Defence Systems. Also, five projects have been accorded AoN this year, taking the number of AoN projects to 65.