India's Defence Boom: How Domestic Production Soared to Rs 1.5 Lakh Crore

Addressing the book launch of 'Civil-Military Fusion as a Metric of National Power & Comprehensive Security', the Defence Minister said, "Due to our consistent efforts over the past few years, India's defence sector is today touching unprecedented heights. The figure for Domestic Defence production, which was around Rs 46,000 crore a decade ago, has now increased to a record of more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore."

"Of this, the private sector has contributed approximately Rs 33,000 crore, and this in itself is a very significant change," he added.

According to a press release by the Ministry of Defence, he said, "Operation Sindoor witnessed extraordinary jointness and integration among the three Services, and reaffirmed the Government's resolve to devise coordinated, adaptive and preemptive defence strategies to deal with the challenges arising out of the changing world order and evolving methods of warfare."

The Defence Minister emphasised that the traditional defence outlook is no longer sufficient in today's times as wars are fought not only on the borders, but have now taken a hybrid and asymmetrical form.

He asserted that the Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has undertaken several bold and decisive reforms to build a future-ready Armed Forces to ensure national security as well as strategic autonomy of the country.

"One of the historic steps was the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, which proved to be an important milestone in strengthening coordination and synergy among the three Services. The entire world witnessed the result of jointness and integration during Operation Sindoor. Pakistan is still recuperating from the severe blow dealt by our Armed Forces," said Rajnath Singh.

The book 'Civil-Military Fusion as a Metric of National Power & Comprehensive Security', launched by Singh, has been written by Lt Gen Raj Shukla (Retd).

Rajnath Singh pressed on, what he called one of the key takeaways from the book, that civil-military fusion should be viewed not just as integration, but as a strategic enabler that fosters innovation, preserves talent, and propels the nation towards technological self-reliance, the press release said.

"This fusion is possible only when we connect our civil industry, private sector, academia, and defence sector for a common national purpose. This increases our economic productivity and strategic edge," he said.

He added that the world today is moving beyond 'division of labour' and toward 'integration of purpose', and despite shouldering different responsibilities, there is a need to work with a shared vision.

"Our civil administration and military are certainly separate in terms of division of labour, but since coming to power, our Prime Minister has emphasised that no administration can operate in silos; it must work in collaboration with each other," he said.

Stressing the need to understand the nature of civil-military fusion in the present technology-driven era, Rajnath Singh called for identifying core challenges and adopting a focused approach to effectively utilise civilian technological capabilities in the military domain while keeping international conventions in mind.

"In today's global perspective, civil and military domains are gradually merging. Technology, economy, and national security are now interlinked more than ever before. Information, supply chains, trade, rare minerals, and cutting-edge technology etc, are being used in both domains. In such circumstances, civil-military fusion has become not a modern trend, but the need of the hour. Ignoring it is not good for strategic growth. Many of our important technologies often remain limited to civilian use. Under a dual-use concept, if these innovations are brought to military applications or vice versa, our national power can increase manifold," he said.

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Director General of the United Service Institution of India Major General BK Sharma (Retd), senior civil & military officials, and veterans were present on the occasion, the MoD said.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

India successfully destroyed nine major terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), targeting Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen facilities. Over 100 terrorists were killed in action.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

- ANI