Defence Budget & Aatmanirbharta Drive
India's FY2026-27 defence budget, the first tabled after Operation Sindoor, is the largest ever handed to any ministry: Rs 7.85 lakh crore, roughly a fifth higher than the previous year and about 14.67% of all central spending. The sharpest jump is the capital pot for new kit — Rs 2,19,306 crore, up nearly 22% — with three-quarters of acquisition money ring-fenced for Indian firms. On 18 July 2026 the Raksha Mantri put fresh goalposts on the drive: domestic production crossing Rs 2 lakh crore in FY2026-27, then Rs 3 lakh crore by 2029, with exports aimed at Rs 50,000 crore that same year. A 17 August contract leases two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones for the Navy for 30 months at about Rs 1,943 crore. Late August then brought a run of indigenous milestones: DRDO's conventional missile technologies opened to Indian firms, the vessels Mangrol, Nipun and ICGS Ajit were handed over, and ground was broken on a tank-overhaul plant at Jabalpur and five shipyard and forging projects in West Bengal.
- Defence Budget 2026-27
- Aatmanirbhar Bharat
- Ministry of Defence
- DRDO
- Operation Sindoor
- defence exports
- defence production
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