Defence Indigenisation: Building Strategic Autonomy in Military Manufacturing

Reducing import dependence in defence manufacturing has become a central goal of Indian strategic policy, aimed at enhancing autonomy in critical security decisions while simultaneously building domestic industrial capacity and jobs.

Key instruments driving this effort include the Positive Indigenisation Lists issued periodically by the Ministry of Defence, which progressively identify categories of equipment that can no longer be imported and must be sourced domestically; iDEX (Innovation for Defence Excellence), which funds start-ups and MSMEs working on defence technology innovation; dedicated Defence Industrial Corridors established in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to cluster manufacturing capacity; and the corporatisation of the former Ordnance Factory Board into seven new Defence Public Sector Undertakings in 2021, intended to improve efficiency and accountability. India's defence exports have also grown substantially over the past decade, with the government setting ambitious targets for further growth in the years ahead.

Challenges remain significant, however: India's research and development spending as a share of the overall defence budget remains low compared to advanced economies, and import dependence continues for critical sub-systems such as aircraft engines, avionics and precision-guided seekers, where domestic technology has yet to fully mature. For Mains, this theme ties naturally into the broader Aatmanirbhar Bharat narrative in strategic sectors, and into the ongoing policy debate about how to balance ambitious indigenisation timelines against the operational readiness needs of the armed forces, since premature reliance on unproven domestic technology carries its own risks.

For quick recall, group the instruments here into two categories: those that restrict imports (Positive Indigenisation Lists) and those that build domestic capacity (iDEX, Defence Corridors, DPSU reforms). This restrict-versus-build framing helps in Mains answers that ask you to evaluate indigenisation policy, since a balanced answer should acknowledge that import restriction alone is not sufficient without matching investment in domestic R&D and manufacturing capability.