Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said India has emerged as a militarily strong nation under prime minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, and was ready to give a befitting response to any threat on its borders.

Speaking at a defence summit, he said, “history shows that India has never been the first to attack any country, but if we face any threat on our borders the defence forces are fully prepared to tackle the situation with strong retaliatory action.”

The defence minister said that the morale of the country’s armed forces is very high and they are always fully prepared for war by land, air or sea. This is a must even at times of peace, he added.

The defence minister’s response to a question came in the backdrop of the continuing tension with China in Ladakh, as well as the northeast.

He said that India was now a key global economic as well as strategic power and was having a bigger say in global affairs.

In the future, India will not only emerge as a fully developed country but also a strong military power, he added.

₹50,000 cr defence exports target by 2028-29

Singh added that the government has prioritised the defence sector and along with the promotion of indigenous manufacturing was aiming at an export target of ₹50,000 cr for military hardware by 2028-29.

Elaborating on the new eco-system for defence manufacturing based on ‘Aatmanirbharta’, he said the country’s defence exports during the current financial year were now close to ₹20,000 cr and he was confident by 2028-29 the figure would touch ₹50,000 cr.

“I am not saying that previous governments did not take steps to strengthen the country’s defence sector. But the difference is that we brought Aatmanirbharta in the defence sector based on our faith in India’s capability. This faith in India’s capability was lacking among the previous governments,” he added.

He said the government had corporatised the ordnance factories which had made them more technology-friendly and increased accountability which has resulted in an increase in production. He said the government has also put its trust in indigenous companies such as Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL), Tata and L&T to boost the defence sector.

The Minister said India now imports technology “only when our own innovation falls short”.

He said that as much as 75% procurement of defence equipment was now being reserved from indigenous companies. The value of India-made defence equipment has now gone up from ₹30,000 cr in 2014 to ₹1.10 lakh cr, he added.

(Source: IANS)

- Edited for style

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