New Delhi, July 5 : Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday voiced the government's unwavering resolve to develop India as a leading global defence manufacturing hub.

The Union Minister's statement came as the Ministry of Defence has achieved the highest-ever growth in indigenous defence production in terms of value during Financial Year (FY) 2023-24, on the back of the successful implementation of the policies and initiatives of the Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on achieving 'Aatmanirbharta'.

As per the data received from all Defence Public Sector undertakings (DPSUs), other PSUs manufacturing defence items and private companies, the value of defence production in the country has gone up to a record-high of Rs 1,26,887 crore, reflecting a growth of 16.7 per cent over the defence production of the previous financial year. The value of defence production in FY 2022-23 was Rs 1,08,684 crore.

Acknowledging the achievement through a post on X, Rajnath Singh stated that the 'Make in India' programme is crossing new milestones, year after year, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Of the total value of production (VoP) in 2023-24, about 79.2 per cent has been contributed by DPSUs/other PSUs and 20.8 per cent by the private sector. The data shows that in terms of absolute value, both DPSUs/PSUs and the private sector have recorded a steady growth in defence production. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the industry, including DPSUs, other PSUs manufacturing defence items and the private industry for taking the defence production at an all-time high.

'The feat has been achieved due to the policy reforms/initiatives and ease of doing business brought in by the government in the last 10 years with a focus on attaining self-reliance. The indigenisation efforts have been pursued aggressively on a sustained basis, which resulted in the highest-ever VoP. Moreover, the spiralling defence exports have contributed tremendously to the overall growth in the indigenous defence production,' the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

It may be recalled that defence exports touched a record-high of Rs 21,083 crore in FY 2023-24, reflecting a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore.

In the last five years, the value of defence production has been increasing steadily, and grown by over 60 per cent from 79071 crore in 2019-20 to 126887 crore in 2023-24.

/IANS