How India Can Become A Weapons Powerhouse

After decades of importing the majority of its primary weapons – from jet fighters and tanks to rifles and warships – India is finally on the cusp of becoming a producer of big-ticket weapon systems.

- Rakesh Krishnan Simha

In 1940 legendary Indian industrialist Walchand Hirachand struck a deal with an American businessman to produce combat aircraft in India. One of the investors in the project was the Maharaja of Mysore, who agreed to invest ₹25 lakh, and also gave 700 acres of land free for the project. Just eight months later Hindustan Aircraft flight tested its first product, a trainer aircraft.

Sumit K Majumdar explains what happened to the project. In the book ‘India's Late, Late Industrial Revolution: Democratising Entrepreneurship’, he writes: “The British government in Whitehall tried to scuttle the project because Indian firms were not considered capable enough to manufacture combat aircraft. Hindustan Aircraft was taken over by the government in 1942.”

India got independence in 1947 but the government of Jawaharlal Nehru retained the same level of hostility towards private Indian enterprise. Here is what noted Gandhian Acharya Kriplani said on the defence budget in Parliament in 1957: “The mounting expenses on the army must be cut down. The followers of Gandhi and adherents of universal peace should not increase military expenditure.” Five years later when the Chinese attack caught India napping, the same Kriplani was calling for heads to roll. It never occurred to him that he was one of the playmakers of the debacle.