India Cannot Afford To Remain Dependent On Defence Imports: Rajnath Singh
NEW DELHI, Mar 4: A huge country like India cannot remain dependent on import of military hardware as such dependency can be โfatalโ for its strategic autonomy, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday, showcasing the Modi governmentโs priority for boosting domestic manufacturing.
In an address at a conference, Singh, without elaborating, also said that India had to face โtroubleโ in โdifficult timesโ in the past due to its reliance on defence imports.
He said the annual volume of domestic defence production has crossed the record figure of Rs 1 lakh crore which was nearly Rs 44,000 crore around 2014.
โWe will be able to maintain strategic autonomy only when arms and equipment are made in our own country, by our own people. We worked towards this, and we also saw positive results,โ Singh said.
โWhile around 2014, our domestic defence production was around Rs 44,000 crore, today our domestic defence production has crossed the record figure of Rs 1 lakh crore, and it is continuously growing,โ he said at the โDefConnect 2024โ conference.
The defence minister said India cannot afford to remain dependent on imports in any important sector.
โA huge country like India cannot remain dependent on imports in any important sector. If we continue to rely on imports of defence equipment and arms, it will make us dependent on other countries. This dependency can be fatal for our strategic autonomy,โ he said.
Singh argued that without self-reliance in key areas, including defence, India will not be able to take independent positions on global issues in line with its national interests.
โUnder the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when our government came to power in 2014, we saw that a large part of Indiaโs defence hardware is imported. If a significant portion of a countryโs security related equipment is imported, then that country may have to face many difficulties in critical situations,โ he said.
โThis has also happened with India in the past. When India was in difficult times, we faced trouble due to our dependence on imports for arms. Therefore, as soon as we came to government, we emphasised that as a nation we cannot remain dependent on arms imports,โ Singh said. (AGENCIES)
