Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday (August 14, 2026) said the government has accorded the highest priority to modernising the armed forces and building a self-reliant, future-ready defence sector, with India emerging as a major defence manufacturing hub and net exporter.
He said domestic defence production had risen from ₹46,000 crore in 2014 to a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26, nearly a four-fold increase. Public sector entities accounted for around 76% of production, while the private sector’s share rose to 24%.
Mr. He also cited the first successful test of the indigenous Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile. Mr. Singh also underlined the government’s focus on border infrastructure, welfare of serving and retired personnel, and greater participation of women in the armed forces. He cited the commissioning of the first batch of women cadets trained at the National Defence Academy and the tri-service all-women circumnavigation expedition, ‘Samudra Pradakshina’.
Defence exports, he said, had increased from ₹686 crore in 2013-14 to an all-time high of ₹38,424 crore in 2025-26, a rise of more than 5,500%. India now has 145 defence exporters supplying products to more than 80 countries. Singh said the government was confident of achieving the ₹50,000-crore defence export target by 2029. The Defence Minister said the defence budget had increased from ₹2.53 lakh crore in 2013-14 to ₹7.85 lakh crore in 2026-27, while capital expenditure rose to ₹2.19 lakh crore. The R&D allocation has also increased by 90% to ₹29,100 crore. He said the successful test of an active-cooled full-scale scramjet combustor for over 1,200 seconds had placed India among select nations pursuing hypersonic missile technology.
