Seizing their chance

Kumar is former defence secretary, distinguished visiting professor, IIT Kanpur, and founder chairman, Mounttech Growth Fund

- Ajay Kumar

India has the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, but arguably the world’s largest defence startup ecosystem. This amazing transformation happened in the last five to six years. In February 2018, the ministry of defence introduced a draft defence production policy with ambitious goals—triple defence industry turnover to 01.75 lakh crore and increase defence exports nearly 15-fold to 025,000 crore by 2025. It is in this policy that startups were envisioned to foster an innovation ecosystem.

Very few believed that startups could significantly impact defence needs. Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) was launched in April 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking a significant policy initiative. It established open startup challenges, later termed Defence India Startup Challenges (DISC), aligned with the requirements of the Indian armed forces. Startups were invited to offer solutions and the most promising ones received financial support of up to 01.5 crore, contingent on achieving milestones and matched or higher investment from the startups.

Around this time, an unexpected request arrived at the defence ministry from the US embassy— they sought collaboration with an Indian startup specialising in military swarms, a technology they found unique and compelling. This surprised the ministry, accustomed to being the seeker rather than the sought-after, especially with respect to the US. As secretary, defence production, I delved deeper into the matter, consulting with ministry officials and armed forces officers who were equally unaware of this startup and its groundbreaking innovations. My curiosity led me to the founder, who was a retired Indian Air Force officer. He revealed his futile attempts to engage with the ministry and the IAF. Meeting him was enlightening—it reinforced my belief in the potential of startups and their inventive teams to drive India's defence innovation ambitions forward.