YEAR END REVIEW 2024: ACHIEVEMENT OF MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

2024 witnessed some path-breaking achievements & breakthroughs as Ministry of Defence (MoD), marched ahead with renewed vigour to make India a strong, secure, self-reliant & prosperous nation, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Aviation World as an industry publication features the same for its global readers.

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Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh assumed his office for the second consecutive term in June 2024 and under his leadership, the Ministry reaffirmed its resolve to work in the priority areas to realise the vision of self-reliance in Defence. Some of the major highlights of 2024 includes:

AATMANIRBHARTA IN DEFENCE

Positive Indigenisation List: To boost Aatmanirbharta in defence & minimise imports by DPSUs, Department of Defence Production in July, notified the fifth Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) consisting of 346 items. These include strategically-important Line Replacement Units/Systems/ Sub-systems/Assemblies/Sub-assemblies/Spares & Components and raw materials. Earlier, four PILs comprising 4,666 items were notified by the DDP for DPSUs, of which 2,972 items, having import substitution value worth Rs 3,400 crore, have already been indigenised. These five lists for DPSUs are in addition to the five PILs of 509 items notified by the Department of Military Affairs. These lists include highly-complex systems, sensors, weapons and ammunition.

Record Defence Production: MoD achieved the highest-ever growth in indigenous defence production in value terms during Financial Year (FY) 2023-24, on the back of successful implementation of the policies and initiatives of the Government. The defence production went up to a record-high figure of Rs 1,26,887 crore, reflecting a growth of 16.7% over the defence production of the previous financial year. The value of defence production in FY 2022-23 was Rs 1,08,684 crore. Of the total value of production in 2023-24, about 79.2% has been contributed by DPSUs/other PSUs and 20.8% by the private sector. The data shows that in terms of absolute value, both DPSUs/PSUs and private sector have recorded a steady growth in defence production. MoD has set a target to achieve Rs three lakh crore defence production by 2029.