Dividends beyond battlefield

Strategic analysts may debate the success or otherwise of Operation Sindoor. But it was undoubtedly a demonstration of the capabilities of India’s fast-growing defence industry. Various nations have since expressed interest in Indian defence tech.

- DEVANGSHU DATTA

Operation Sindoor came at a good time for India’s military-industrial complex. Rising global tensions have pushed up defence budgets at a time when increasing US isolationism, and the strong-arm tarifftactics of the Donald Trump regime have opened up high-growth, high-value markets to non-American defence manufacturers.

The European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) members, for instance, are looking at increasing defence budgets. At the same time, tensions created by the US tariff demands have led these countries to diversify away from US equipment. The EU has a €150 billion rearmament plan — the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) — and it is trying to source non-US equipment for SAFE.

This contrasts with earlier procurement trends where around 65-70 per cent of EU armaments were always of US origin, with the rest sourced domestically, or from other EU and Nato countries. Canada is also committing to higher defence spending while decoupling from the US. India could end up getting a small slice of that action.