India’s defence has grown in last 10 years says NITI Aayog member Saraswat

NEW DELHI: India’s defence capabilities have gone up substantially during the past decade of the Modi government and now the country is dependent on arms import only for immediate requirements of the armed forces, NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat said on Wednesday.

Saraswat, a former Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) chief further said at present 60 per cent of India’s total arms and ammunition are indigenous.

“Indian defence capabilities in the last 10 years have gone up substantially,” he told PTI.

Saraswat added that India’s complete ecosystem of defence is largely now indigenous. We are dependent on imports only for immediate requirements of the armed forces or something which we do not have technology for.

He said that now big corporate houses like the Adani Group, Tata Group, and L&T are manufacturing indigenous radar systems and guns.

Commenting on Swedish think tank SIPRI’s recent report, Saraswat said, “While our arms requirement is going up, the ratio of imports to our overall defence requirement is decreasing, despite a rise in the total value of imports.