New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said a huge country like India cannot remain dependent on import of military hardware as such dependency can be fatal for its strategic autonomy.
In his address at the 'DefConnect 2024' conference, Defence Minister alluded to India's historical challenges stemming from its dependence on defence imports during difficult periods.
While not providing detailed specifics, he emphasized the nation's past struggles due to this reliance. He said that the annual volume of domestic defence production has surged beyond the landmark figure of Rs 1 lakh crore which was neraly Rs 44,000 crore around 2014, reported news agency PTI.
India Can Not Afford To Remain Dependent On Imports In Any Important Sector: Rajnath
"We will be able to maintain strategic autonomy only when arms and equipment are made in our own country, by our own people. We worked towards this, and we also saw positive results, PTI quoted Rajnath Singh as saying.
"If we continue to rely on imports of defence equipment and arms, it will make us dependent on other countries. This dependency can be fatal for our strategic autonomy", The defence minister remarked.
Rajnath Singh asserted that achieving self-reliance, particularly in critical sectors like defence, is paramount for India's ability to assert independent positions on global matters aligned with its national interests.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, upon assuming office in 2014, it became evident that a substantial portion of India's defence hardware was imported. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh highlighted the inherent risks associated with such heavy reliance on imports during critical situations, emphasizing that India had faced difficulties in the past due to this dependence.
"Therefore, as soon as we came to government, we emphasised that as a nation we cannot remain dependent on arms imports", Singh said.