Defence exports: Finding overseas buyers

On 19 April 2024, an Indian Air Force transport aircraft carried the first BrahMos missiles and launchers to the Philippines. The consignment began deliveries under a $375 million agreement signed in January 2022. For India’s defence industry, it was a tangible export milestone: a foreign customer had moved from signing for a major weapon system to receiving it. [1]

The broader export figures grew too. The defence ministry reported ₹23,622 crore for 2024–25, up from ₹21,083 crore the previous year. Private firms contributed ₹15,233 crore, while defence public-sector undertakings supplied ₹8,389 crore. Public-sector growth accounted for almost all of that year’s increase; the private-sector figure was nearly unchanged. [2]

The next financial year brought a larger jump. On 2 April 2026, the ministry reported ₹38,424 crore for 2025–26, an increase of 62.66%. Public enterprises contributed ₹21,071 crore and private firms ₹17,353 crore. The balance between the two had shifted, with public enterprises now accounting for more than half. These are government-reported annual values in current rupees. [3]

Opening the export channel

The changes under Narendra Modi’s governments included a digital export-permission system, simpler procedures for repeat orders and a general licence for specified products and destinations. A 2022 parliamentary reply also described access to government testing facilities and support for defence attachés promoting Indian products abroad. These measures eased parts of the route to an overseas customer; the reply does not isolate how much export growth each measure caused. [4]

Long comparisons need care. The ministry’s 2014–15 annual report put the 2013–14 figure at ₹686.27 crore, explicitly referring to no-objection certificates issued by the Department of Defence Production. That historical figure should not silently become a customs-verified count of completed deliveries. A licence, a contract and a shipment describe different stages of a sale. [5]

The industrial foundations also predate the recent export push. BrahMos grew out of a February 1998 agreement between India and Russia, bringing DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia into a joint venture. Its first successful test came in June 2001. The Philippine delivery thus drew on decades of public research, international cooperation and manufacturing work. [6]

Selling abroad while buying abroad

Export growth can coexist with substantial dependence on foreign weapons. SIPRI’s March 2026 research ranked India as the world’s second-largest recipient of major arms during 2021–25, with 8.2% of global imports. Its import volume was 4% lower than in 2016–20. SIPRI linked part of that decline to domestic production while also noting delays and continuing foreign orders. [7]

These figures cannot be subtracted from the ministry’s rupee total to produce a trade balance. SIPRI measures the volume of major-arms transfers using its own indicator, not sales prices, and excludes many goods and services covered by broader defence trade. [8]

The BrahMos consignment illustrates what sits beneath the aggregate figures: a particular customer, contract and delivery. It marked the beginning of fulfilling that export order. Counting the whole contract as delivered on the day its first aircraft arrived would lose precisely the distinction that makes the event meaningful. [1]