$130 bn to modernise forces in 8 yrs: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that India will invest more than $130 billion to modernise its armed forces over the next eight years.

Speaking at the valedictory event of the 13th edition of the biennial Aero India, Singh said, “By self-reliance, we do not mean to be isolated from the world or act as a closed economy… It actually seeks to promote globalisation by making India a more competitive player on the global stage and inviting the global companies to set up shops in India.”

He added, “We are going to invest around $130 billion towards enhancing security by military modernisation in the next 7-8 years.”

India has been trying to give a fillip to the domestic defence manufacturing industry and hopes to achieve $5 billion worth of exports by 2024.

Singh said that events like Aero India will “help in realising our twin goals of self-reliance and exports, and in attaining our target of achieving a turnover of

Rs 1,75,000 crore, including export of Rs 35,000 crore in aerospace and defence goods and services, by the year 2024”.

He invited international players to establish their ventures in India “for the purpose of peace, security, cooperation, coordination, balance and joint business interests”. President Ram Nath Kovind, who was the chief guest at the valedictory event, said he is confident that Aero India “will contribute significantly towards strengthening India’s self-reliance in the defence sector as well as establishing India as a manufacturer for the world”.

“The event has exhibited that the global confidence in India’s capabilities is growing steadily,” Kovind said. “The reforms initiated in India in the last six years offer unprecedented opportunities to investors and private companies in the defence and aerospace sectors. We have taken a number of policy initiatives aimed at placing India among the top nations in the defence sector with twin objectives of self-reliance and export promotion.”

Speaking about Mission Sagar 1, Kovind said, “After the Covid-19 outbreak, under Operation Sagar 1 we reached out to our neighbours and assisted them with medical teams, medicines as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies.

“Keeping with India’s stated commitment to use its vaccine production and delivery capacity to help the entire humanity fight the Covid-19 pandemic, supplies to our friendly foreign nations have already begun,” he said.$130 bn to modernise forces in 8 yrs: Rajnath