Defence: India to make domestic production 100%, says Rajnath Singh
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said India is looking at taking domestic defence production to 100 percent as dependence on foreign military supplies creates “strategic vulnerability.”
After inaugurating a third production line of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk1A and a second manufacturing facility of trainer jet HTT-40 in Nashik, Maharashtra, he said earlier India was dependent on other countries to meet its defence needs, and imported almost 65-70 percent of defence equipment.
“But today, this situation has changed; now India is doing 65 percent manufacturing on its own soil,” he said.
“Very soon, we will take our domestic manufacturing to 100 percent.”
With the new facility for Tejas jets, the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is expected to produce at least 24 LCA aircraft.
Singh said India’s defence export has reached a record Rs 25,000 crore which was less than Rs 1,000 crore only few years ago.
“We have now set a target to achieve Rs three lakh crore in domestic defence manufacturing and Rs 50,000 crore in defence exports by 2029,” he added.
