The $130 Bn Battle For India's Defence Pie
Fortune India|March 2023
India is making a break from the past to power its defence and attack capabilities completely indigenously, giving its firms-old and new-a shot at the $2.5 trillion global defence and aerospace market.
P.B. Jayakumar
The $130 Bn Battle For India's Defence Pie

KANPUR-BASED MKU may not be a familiar name for civilians but over three million soldiers in 100 countries use its fibreglass helmets, snow boots and bullet-proof jackets. It recently designed Veer Helmet, a ballistic headgear that can accommodate turbans worn by Sikh soldiers. Its production units in India and Germany serve over 230 forces. MKU got attention in 2016 when it bagged an army order for 1.58 lakh ballistic helmets worth ₹170 crore. In past three-four years, it has also become an optronics (optical electronics) specialist and developed, among other things, night vision devices and thermal weapon sights that use heat to spot the enemy in the dark.

Down South, Rangsons Defence & Aerospace specialises in high-tech satcom and reducing heat generated by aircraft, apart from aviation tubes, hoses and ducts. Part of Mysuru-based N. Ranga Rao & Sons which built iconic brand Cycle Pure agarbattis, today, besides Indian defence forces, Defence Research And Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and ISRO, Rangsons supplies to Boeing, Honeywell, Liebherr, IAI, GE and Siemens. Pavan Ranga, a third-generation scion, started an electronics business that he later sold to focus on defence electronics. “We expect a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 65% for next five years at least,” says Pavan Ranga, chairman, Rangsons.

There are more. Such as Captain Nikunj Parashar, who founded Pune-based start-up Sagar Defence Engineering in 2015 to build unmanned marine surface vehicles using robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). “It took us five years to get the first contract from DRDO for ₹9.5 lakh. Today, we are executing orders worth $2 million,” he says at the recent DefExpo.

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