India defence production hits record Rs 1.78 lakh crore in FY 2025-26

India defence production has reached an all-time high of Rs 1.78 lakh crore in Financial Year 2025-26, the Ministry of Defence announced on Wednesday, marking a 15.6 percent rise over the Rs 1.54 lakh crore recorded in FY 2024-25. The figure is more than double the Rs 84,643 crore logged in FY 2020-21, a 110 percent increase in five years. Measured against FY 2013-14, when output stood at Rs 43,746 crore, the sector has grown nearly four times over.

Defence Public Sector Undertakings and other PSUs accounted for approximately 76 percent of total output. The private sector contributed the remaining 24 percent, up from 22 percent in FY 2024-25, with private firms producing goods worth around Rs 42,000 crore, their highest absolute contribution on record.



India defence production and the private sector's expanding footprint

The private sector's share has climbed steadily over the past several years. In absolute value terms, Rs 42,000 crore from private manufacturers in a single fiscal year is a number that would have been difficult to project even at the start of the decade. The Department of Defence Production attributes this trajectory to policy instruments introduced under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, including positive indigenisation lists that have progressively restricted imports of items where domestic capability exists.

The 114 Rafale deal's Make in India mandate, which France has formally committed to, is one of the more visible expressions of how large platform programmes are now being structured to pull domestic production value. The Rs 1.78 lakh crore figure reflects the cumulative effect of dozens of such decisions across procurement and production policy.

Defence exports reach Rs 38,424 crore

Alongside the production record, defence exports climbed to Rs 38,424 crore in FY 2025-26. The Ministry of Defence linked the export growth directly to the expansion of the domestic manufacturing base, citing the production surge as a precondition for competitive export capacity. India's defence export target, which stood at Rs 50,000 crore by 2025 when the policy was framed, remains a benchmark the sector is approaching from a stronger base than at any previous point.

The IAF's Rs 30,000 crore MALE drone programme, which drew bids from around 10 Indian firms including HAL, Solar Industries, Adani, Tata and L&T, illustrates the kind of large-value domestic contest that is now routine in Indian defence procurement. Programmes of that scale, structured with domestic content requirements, feed directly into the production figures the Ministry of Defence is now reporting.

Rajnath Singh on the FY26 milestone

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh, posting on X on Wednesday morning, credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for the production surge and praised the collective contribution of the Department of Defence Production alongside both public and private sector players. He described the upward trajectory as a clear indicator of India's expanding defence industrial base and said continued momentum was expected given sustained policy support, new initiatives, increased private sector participation and growing export capability.

https://x.com/rajnathsingh/status/2067086616871731590

Context: a decade of growth in India defence production

The FY 2013-14 baseline of Rs 43,746 crore is worth keeping in mind. That figure predates the first Positive Indigenisation List, predates the Aatmanirbhar Bharat framework, and predates the consolidation of the Ordnance Factory Board into seven Defence Public Sector Undertakings. The structural changes of the intervening decade are visible in the output numbers. Four-fold growth in roughly twelve years is not accidental.

Private sector firms now have a more direct path from development to production than at any earlier period, supported by mechanisms including the iDEX innovation framework, the Defence Acquisition Procedure's Buy Indian categories, and dedicated defence industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Kalyani Group's Simha 4x4 armoured vehicle debut at Eurosatory 2026 is a recent example of Indian private sector firms now competing on international exhibition floors, a consequence of the production capacity built domestically over this period.

PIB source details

The figures were released by the Ministry of Defence via the Press Information Bureau on 17 June 2026. The Ministry of Defence has not released a detailed production breakdown by category or service branch alongside this announcement.