A 'DUAL APPROACH' APPROACH TO ATMANIRBHARTA

India’s growing aerospace and defence industry will remain an important market for Western OEMS. A special report

India’s homegrown defence industry is making rapid strides but will continue to remain an important market for Western OEMs as it yet lacks the critical capabilities required to indigenously manufacture military aero engines, airborne radars, precision munitions and Electronic Warfare (EW) equipment, to name a few. India’s defence industry is now going through a transformational phase and is transitioning to the defence private sector but delays in orders have meant that these firms are unable to invest greater sums to grow their defence manufacturing capability. There have also been growing calls for India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) to manage the design and development of defence equipment but hand over a series of production and maintenance tasks to the Indian private sector instead of State-owned Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU).

Regardless of the approach taken, Western OEMs will still receive sizeable orders for defence equipment and systems from India, well into the next decade. India’s most important indigenously developed defence platforms are thought to have import content levels approaching 50 per cent, especially for aircraft and helicopters, for which Line Replaceable Units (LRU), engines, sensors and weapons are imported. In July 2022, India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) released information on levels of indigenous content on indigenously developed platforms such as the Tejas Mk1/ Mk1A, Dhruv utility helicopter, Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). The Tejas Mk1/ Mk1A, Dhruv utility helicopter, Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) as per the MoD have indigenisation levels of 53.55 per cent, 55.89 per cent, 54.09 per cent and 52 per cent respectively.