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Year of Reforms
Context:
The Defence Minister, along with the secretaries of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), has announced that 2025 will be observed as the “Year of Reforms” in the MoD.
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- The decision, made during a New Year’s Eve meeting, reflects the ministry’s commitment to modernising India’s defence capabilities and fostering a forward-looking approach to national security.
- The meeting reviewed the progress of various defence and security initiatives and identified nine broad focus areas for 2025.
- These reforms aim to transform India’s armed forces into a technologically advanced, combat-ready force capable of executing multi-domain integrated operations.
Strengthening the Defence Ecosystem
The ministry’s plans include:
- Promoting Indigenous Production: Enhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities to reduce reliance on imports.
- Fostering Innovation: Supporting research and development to drive technological advancements.
- Encouraging Public-Private Partnerships: Improving the ease of doing business to enable collaboration between public and private sectors.
- Positioning India as a Global Defence Export Leader: Building partnerships with foreign equipment manufacturers and promoting knowledge sharing to increase exports.
- The MoD has set an ambitious target of achieving defence exports worth ₹1.5 lakh crore by 2029—a significant leap from the ₹22,083 crore recorded in FY24. This marks a 137% increase and reflects a 31-fold growth compared to FY14.
Public-Private Collaboration
- India’s defence production reached a record ₹1.27 trillion in FY24, with public-sector undertakings contributing 79.2% and the private sector accounting for 20.8%.
- This represents a 16.7% growth from FY23 and highlights the critical role of public-private collaboration in the defence sector.
- To sustain this momentum, the MoD plans to facilitate technology transfers between defence and civil industries and simplify defence acquisition procedures.
- A comprehensive revamp of the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 is expected in 2025 to align with service requirements and enable faster capability development.
Fostering Jointness and Integration
Three key focus areas emphasise enhancing coordination and efficiency through jointness and integration among the armed forces. The reforms include:
- Strengthening Joint Operations: Facilitating inter-service cooperation and training to develop shared operational capabilities.
- Integrated Theatre Commands (ITCs): Establishing ITCs to unify assets, infrastructure, logistics, and personnel across the Army, Navy, and Air Force under a single commander.
- The proposed ITCs aim to streamline resources and boost operational efficiency across the three Services.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Encouraging greater interaction among defence stakeholders to ensure a cohesive approach to security challenges.
Cultural and Indigenous Pride
- Aligned with the vision of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance), the MoD seeks to instil pride in Indian culture and indigenous capabilities.
- Out of 132 defence acquisition contracts signed in 2024 (until November), 126 (95.45%) were awarded to Indian vendors, showcasing the ministry’s commitment to fostering domestic production.
These reforms aim to equip the armed forces with cutting-edge technology and operational readiness, ensuring that India remains prepared to face evolving security challenges in the years ahead.
