The total number of exporters also grew by 17.4% in FY 2024-25. File
| Photo Credit: Ministry of Defence via PTI Photo
The country’s defence exports have hit a new record high of ₹23,622 crore in the financial year (FY) 2024-25, a growth of 12.04% over the previous fiscal year, the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Tuesday (April 1, 2025).
“India’s defence exports have surged to a record high of ₹23,622 crore in the FY 2024-25. An impressive growth of ₹2,539 crore or 12.04% has been registered in the just-concluded FY over the defence exports figures of FY 2023-24, which were ₹21,083 crore,” Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on social media platform X, adding that India was marching towards achieving the target of increasing defence exports to ₹50,000 crore by 2029.
Defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) have shown a significant increase of 42.85% in their exports in FY2024-25, the statement said. “The private sector and DPSUs have contributed ₹15,233 crore and ₹8,389 crore, respectively, in defence exports of 2024-25, whereas the corresponding figures for FY2023-24 were ₹15,209 crore and ₹5,874 crore, respectively,” the MoD said.
The Department of Defence Production has a dedicated portal for the application and processing of export authorisation requests, and 1,762 export authorisations were issued in FY 2024-25, compared with 1,507 in the preceding year, registering a growth of 16.92%, the Ministry said. The total number of exporters also grew by 17.4% in the same period.
India has evolved from a largely import-dependent military force to one increasingly focused on self-reliance and indigenous production, the statement said, adding that in a major boost to defence exports, a wide range of items, from arms, ammunition, sub-systems/systems, and parts and components were exported to about 80 countries in the just-concluded fiscal year.
The Ministry said that many policy reforms had been brought in by the government in the past few years to boost the Indian defence industry, including simplification of the industrial licensing procedure, removal of parts and components from the license regime, and extension of the validity period of licenses. “In addition, the standard operating procedure for the grant of Export Authorisation was further simplified, and more provisions were added in the previous financial year to boost exports from the country,” the MoD said.
Published – April 01, 2025 07:56 pm IST