India's defence exports at $2.6 bn; US, France and Armenia top buyers

India-manufactured weapons and other defence equipment are now in big demand overseas. The US, France and Armenia have ranked the top three buyers of India’s arms, increasing total military sales to Rs 21,083 crore ($2.6 billion) in 2023-23.

A report by Times of India quoted official sources as saying that public and private sector companies in India are now shipping out a large amount of arms, ammunition and fuses to around 100 countries. Also, some complete weapon systems and platforms including BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, Dornier-228 aircraft, artillery guns, radars, Akash missiles, Pinaka rockets, and armoured vehicles are being exported by Indian companies, they further said.  

Armenia biggest buyer of India’s ‘finished’ weapon systems 

India has shed off its earlier hesitations of exporting lethal arms and therefore, now, it has been getting a lot of demand from a host of countries.  

Armenia has emerged as India’s biggest client of ‘finished’ weapon systems including Akash air defence missile systems, Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems and 155mm artillery guns.  

Not just this, Armenia has also signed a number of deals with India in the past four years for import of ‘finished products’ like missiles, artillery guns, rocket systems, weapon-locating radars, bullet-proof vests, and night-vision equipment and a wide variety of ammunition and artillery shells.

Armenia has become the first foreign buyer of made in India Akash air defence missiles. Also, Brazil has expressed interest in co-producing and co-developing advanced versions of the system.  

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“Brazil wants an inter-governmental agreement on it…talks are underway,” the report quoted another source as saying.

What are US and France buying from India?

The US’ defence purchase from India consists of sub-systems and components, which include global defence majors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin sourcing fuselage, wings, and other parts of aircraft and helicopters.  

France is importing a lot of software and electronic equipment from India, the ToI report quoted sources as saying.

There has been growing interest for India’s BrahMos anti-ship coastal missile batteries among Asean countries and some Gulf nations. The attention increased after India bagged the $375-million contract in January 2022 for the export of three of such precision-strike missiles that it has co-developed with Russia.

Despite this, India remains the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for 9.8 per cent of the total global imports in the 2019-2024 period. However, the country is rapidly expanding its domestic defence industrial base (DIB) and banning imports of some weapon systems under its ‘Aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) or ‘Make in India’ initiative, as it aggressively pushes for arms exports.

In 2023-24, India’s annual defence production reached a record high of Rs 1.2 lakh crore, after which the government has set an ambitious target for it to touch Rs 3 lakh crore by 2028-29, along with arms exports of Rs 50,000 crore.