Rajnath Singh reviewed the operational capabilities of the Indian Navy aboard INS Vikrant

The local defence industry would receive orders worth more than $100 billion in the following five to ten years, according to Rajnath Singh, the Indian defence minister

India is currently making efforts to indigenize all equipment used in its military, including tanks, submarines, and missiles, and notably, there is speculation that a significant emphasis will be placed on indigenizing components of the Tejas, especially its engines. Considering the engine supply issues that arose during the development of Tejas due to conflicts related to India’s nuclear possession with the UK, this attitude of India is well understandable.

Recently, India has shown significant confidence in Tejas. This confidence stems not only from the fighter jet’s development, which has had its share of challenges but also from the recent successful landing of the Air Force version of Tejas, not a carrier-based version, on the active Vikrant-class aircraft carrier. This indicates that Tejas is undoubtedly intended to serve as a primary fighter for both the Air Force and Navy.

“In the next 5-10 years, orders worth over $100 billion are expected to be placed through the defence sector, and it will become a major partner in the country’s economic development,” said Singh.

“Today, our defence sector is on the runway. Soon, when it takes off, it will transform the country’s economy. If we want to see India among the world’s top economic powers by the end of ‘Amrit Kaal,’ we must take bold steps towards becoming a defence superpower,” Singh added.

In February, India proposed $72.6 billion in defence spending for the 2023-24 fiscal year, a 13% increase from the previous period’s initial estimates, aiming to add more fighter jets and roads along its tense border with China.

The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed that nearly $550 billion in total federal spending in the annual budget for 2023–24, which will begin in April, set aside 1.63 trillion rupees for defence capital outlays, an expense that would include new weapons, aircraft, warships, and other military hardware.

A recent US intelligence community’s global threat assessment for 2023 estimated that the India-China tensions can be turned into an armed conflict between the two nuclear powers.

India aims to modernize its military, focusing on indigenization due to several clashes between China and India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Himalayan regions.