Defence Companies in India: an overview
India's defence output reached a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26, according to Ministry of Defence figures released in June 2026, up 15.6% from ₹1,54,071 crore a year earlier. Defence PSUs and other public-sector units supplied about 76% of that value and private companies about 24%, or roughly ₹42,000 crore. Exports rose 62.66% to ₹38,424 crore, with 145 exporters shipping to more than 80 countries, and private firms accounted for ₹17,353 crore of the total. By May 2026 the ministry had notified ten positive indigenisation lists covering 5,521 items earmarked for domestic sourcing.
The public sector still carries most large programmes. Hindustan Aeronautics traces its origins to Hindustan Aircraft, set up in Bengaluru in 1940, and took its present form through a 1964 merger. Bharat Electronics dates from 1954, Bharat Dynamics has built guided missiles in Hyderabad since 1970, and four shipyards, Mazagon Dock, Garden Reach, Cochin Shipyard and Goa Shipyard, build warships. On 1 October 2021 the Ordnance Factory Board's 41 production units were moved into seven new government companies. They include Munitions India, which runs 12 plants from Pune, and Armoured Vehicles Nigam, which builds T-72, T-90 and Arjun tanks at Avadi.
Private manufacturers have moved from supplying parts to delivering complete systems. L&T builds the K9 Vajra-T self-propelled howitzer at its Armoured Systems Complex in Hazira and signed a contract worth about ₹7,629 crore for more of them in December 2024. Bharat Forge, through its subsidiary Kalyani Strategic Systems, signed in March 2025 for 184 ATAGS towed guns developed with DRDO. Tata Advanced Systems, incorporated in Hyderabad in 2006, runs the C295 aircraft final assembly line at Vadodara. Solar Industries of Nagpur makes explosives and ammunition, while listed specialists such as Data Patterns, Paras Defence, Zen Technologies and ideaForge supply electronics, optics, simulators and drones.