India's Defence exports soar by seven times in two years

India's defence exports have grown seven times in the last two years, reaching a value of two billion dollars. Joint Secretary in the Department of Defence Production Dr. Sanjay Jaju said that the country is working out modalities to become a hub in top class defence production with efforts being made to increase defence exports to five billion dollars in the near future.  

Addressing a gathering of security and defence specialists in Bengaluru, he said 440 companies in the private sector have taken up defence production in the last five years. These companies have been given contracts worth five lakh crore rupees for the supply of defence equipment, he said. On the



role of start ups in defence sector, Dr. Jaju said that Artificial Intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber-defence, smart ammunition and weapons are areas in which the start ups are going to play an innovative role.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of National Security Advisory Board PS Raghavan pointed out that cyber and space attacks, sanctions and tariffs, drone attacks, electronic warfare, 5G communication network are areas in which future wars will be fought. Chairman of National Technology Research Organization Satish Chandra Jha said that the need is to integrate ideas on national security with the policy making initiatives.