New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday emphasized that with the current reforms undertaken by the Centre, the size of the Indian defence and aerospace sector is likely to reach ₹ 5 lakh crore by 2047 from the current 85,000 crore.

Mr Singh added that the private sector plays a huge role in achieving this goal.

Addressing the FICCI's Annual Convention and 94th annual general meeting on the theme 'India Beyond 75', Singh said that to promote the domestic companies under Atmanirbhar Bharat, the government is working to expand the Positive Indigenization List of 208 items to 1,000 items.

"In this decade, we will increase the items under the Positive list for Indigenization from current 209 to over 1000. The government now looks at the private industry as their partners and in fulfilling the objective of attaining Atmanirbhar Raksha Utpadan," he stressed.

Assuring the industry of full government support, the defence minister said that the role of the government is that of a facilitator. "Government is committed to increasing the budget outlay for defence procurement from Indian industry," he noted.

Mr Singh further stressed that going forward, India will focus on manufacturing defence equipment and platforms within India. Inviting global companies to invest in India's defence and aerospace, he said, "Come Make in India, come make for India, come make for the world."

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the government to increase private sector participation and global companies, the Defence Minister said, "The Indian defence industry has realized that the opportune time has come for its take-off to higher trajectories. Corporatization of OFB is probably the biggest reform in defence production sector since independence."

Speaking on the occasion, FICCI President Uday Shankar said that Indian defence export has increased by 325 per cent in the last five years, making India one of the major global suppliers of defence equipment. "India is now not just importing from, but working with its major defence partners including Israel, Russia, South Korea, USA etc, in the co-development and co-production projects in cutting edge technologies," he added.

Sanjiv Mehta, President-Elect, FICCI said that the provision of the 'Make' category of capital acquisition in Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) is a vital pillar for realizing the vision behind the 'Make in India' initiative of the government. "It enables fostering indigenous capabilities through design and development by both public and private sector in a faster time frame," he added.