New Delhi: India is no longer in the list of top 25 arms exporters, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) of Sweden, even as it is now exporting more defence hardware to South-East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.Over the last five years, India’s defence exports stood at Rs 4,682 crore in 2017-18, Rs 10,746 crore in 2018-19, Rs 9,116 crore in 2019-20, Rs 8,435 crore in 2020-21, and Rs 12,815 crore in 2021-22, the EurAsian Times reported. As on March 14, 2023, India exported Rs 13,399 crore of defence products, the report said.In the previous year’s SIPRI report, India was ranked the 23rd largest exporter above Brazil and Portugal. All three nations had an equal share of 0.2%.On the other hand, India continues to top the global list of defence equipment importers, The Wire reported, despite the Union government’s claims of having rapidly localised its materiel procurements under its ‘Atmanirbharta’ (or self-sufficiency) initiative.According to PIB, India’s defence exports reached an all-time high of approximately Rs 16,000 crore in fiscal year 2022-23, up 10 times since 2016-17.Amit Cowshish, a former financial advisor (acquisitions) in the Ministry of Defence, cited three reasons why India is lagging in this field.First, a country must have a wide variety of export-worthy “major military equipment” to make a dent in the global market. However, India’s exports are mainly low-value products, coupled with the modest size of export orders, he told the EurAsian Times.Also read: Recurring Accidents and Reliability Concerns: A Report Card on Army’s Advanced Light Helicopters“If the value of India’s export orders jumped from Rs 8,434 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 12,814 crore in 2021-22, it was essentially because of relatively high-end products like BrahMos Aerospace signing a deal worth $375 million with the Philippines for three batteries of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited bagging a contract worth $155.5 million for export of 155mm artillery guns to an unnamed country,” he added.Second, he said that the “Indian defence products have not demonstrated an impeccable record of reliability, operational efficacy, and after-sales service for the potential importers to consider buying them seriously.” Third, he said that except for the US, whose high-value exports are staggered across many countries, the bulk of exports by other major exporters is to a limited number of countries.For instance, of 55% of French exports, India accounted for 30%, Qatar 17%, and Egypt 8%. Of 63% of Russian exports, India accounted for 31%, China 23%, and Egypt 3%.
