India aims to produce defence equipment worth ₹3 lakh crore and export ₹50,000 crore worth a year by 2029, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday (November 3).
"We aim to achieve defence production worth Rs 3 lakh crore and defence exports worth Rs 50,000 crore by 2029," he said, chairing a meeting of the consultative committee of the defence ministry on modernising the armed forces in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sit on the committee.
What he said
- The defence budget for 2026-27 was raised to a record ₹7.85 lakh crore, including ₹2.19 lakh crore of capital outlay for modernisation and purchases.
- Defence production rose from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15 to a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26.
- Exports grew from under ₹2,000 crore in 2014 to about ₹40,000 crore.
- The Army's new formations, including the Asani, Bhairav and Shaktiban platoons, are proving "highly effective", he said.
The meeting focused on bringing in next-generation weapons faster, joint planning across the three services, domestic manufacturing, and technologies such as AI, unmanned systems, cyber, space and electronic warfare, the ministry said.
How far the target is
The ministry's own data shows the scale of the goal. Production reached ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26, up 15.6% from ₹1.54 lakh crore the year before, the ministry said in June. Exports were a record ₹38,424 crore. The private sector made about 24% of the total.
To reach ₹3 lakh crore by 2029, output would have to rise by about 70% in roughly three years, or close to 19% a year, faster than the 15.6% growth of last year. Exports would need to grow about 30% from the 2025-26 level.