Defence Ministry exceeds spend target for local arms

The defence ministry has exceeded its spending target on purchase of domestically produced military systems in the last financial year by signing several big-ticket items like military transport aircraft, helicopters and missiles for the armed forces amounting to '75,140 crore.

In the 2021-22 budget, the ministry had projected a target to spend 64% of its capital acquisition budget on the domestic industry. Data shared by the government shows that 65.5% of the budget was spent on domestic sources of equipment.

The Army has exceeded this target, with 82% of its capital acquisition allocation being spent on domestic purchases. At the end of the financial year, '39,770 worth of orders were placed on foreign sources while the Indian industry bagged orders worth '75,140 cr.


Among the major orders for which payments were made this year include fighter jets, transport aircraft, light helicopters, warships, main battle tanks and various types of ammunition. The ministry has also marked 310 major weapon systems under a no-import list, encouraging their production by the domestic industry.