Work is already on for developing country-wise profiles for possible military exports from India

Curbing the imports of defence equipment is not enough; India is now planning to export the indigenously made defence equipment to other countries so that it evolves as a supplier of defence equipment in the coming years.

The Indian government is making a list of the countries in Indian Ocean Region and Africa to push for the exports, news portal The Print reports.

Work is already on for developing country-wise profiles for possible military exports from India.

The country’s Defence Attaches in various Indian missions across the world will enable the export of these made in India defence systems. The government is already preparing a consolidated list of items that can be exported to these countries.

A senior official said the government is preparing a negative import list and is pushing for exports. He said, “We have already introduced a negative import list, which will give a push to domestic production. The list will be expanded over time and more products will be added. Other steps are being taken to ensure that exports take place too.

According to several other experts, India stands a great chance of becoming a defence supplier given the fact that there are many countries which can neither produce defence systems on their own, nor they can afford to buy them from western countries, The Print reported.

Many others also welcomed the Indian government’s decision on pushing for exports, the report said. “There is a market that India can cater to. There have been some very good products, which have been developed by the private sector. These products can very well cater to the demands of many countries, besides our own,” an industry expert said.

The government is making efforts as part of its plan to fulfil the target of 35,000 crore rupees export in aerospace and defence goods over the next five years. Indian government aims to achieve a turnover of 1.75 lakh crore rupees in defence manufacturing by 2025.