India Exported Military Equipment Worth Over Rs 34,000 Crore In Last Five Years: Govt In Lok Sabha

The government has stated in the Lok Sabha that India has exported military equipment and hardware worth Rs 34000 crore in the previous five years, PTI reports. Shripad Naik, Minister of State for Defence, revealed the exponential growth made by private and defence public sector undertakings in terms of supplying the concerned goods in recent times.

In 2015-16, they had exported equipment and hardware valuing Rs 2059.18 crore and that fell down further to Rs 1521.91 crore in the next fiscal. However, the country recorded exports worth Rs 4682.36 crore and Rs 10745.77 in 2017/18 and 2018/19 respectively. It marginally declined to Rs 9115.55 crore in 2019/20 and currently stands at Rs 6288.26 crore in the ongoing fiscal year till 31st January.

The minister further disclosed that the authorization to export has been provided to other equipment such as the night vision monocular and binocular, light weight torpedo, fire control systems, armoured protection vehicles, coastal surveillance radar, weapons locating radar, torpedo loading mechanism and others.

Speaking about the defence sector attracting additional foreign direct investment (FDI), Naik stated, “Further, FDI inflows of over Rs 2871 crores have been reported in defence and aerospace sector after 2014.”

The MP from North Goa detailed that 124 Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun Mark-1 have been inducted into the Indian Army since 2008. Moreover, two armoured regiments are wholly operational with these tanks whereas the DRDO has already upgraded the Arjun Mark-1A tank. “This upgraded MBT Arjun Mark-1A tank has cleared validation trials in December, 2018,” Naik quipped.

In fact, according to the minister, contracts of 118 of the 191 defence capital acquisition deals completed in the previous three years were placed with the domestic Indian industry. “Further, 58 per cent of total expenditure on capital acquisition in the last three years has been made on indigenous procurement,” the 68-year-old leader added.