There is a story India has told about itself for decades. It is the story of jugaad: finding a way when resources are limited, solving problems creatively, and achieving results against the odds. It is a story worth celebrating. But it is not the story that will define the next phase of India’s growth.
As India moves towards its Vision 2047 ambitions, success will depend not only on ingenuity, but on the ability to build technologies that are reliable, scalable, precise, and globally competitive. Few sectors illustrate this transition more clearly than defence.
THE NUMBERS TELL A STORY
A decade ago, India’s defence exports stood at a modest ₹686 crore. By 2025-26, that figure had reached a record ₹38,424 crore, with Indian-made defence products reaching buyers in over 80 countries. Indigenous defence production has risen to an all-time high of ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26, a 15.6% increase from the previous year and more than double what it was five years ago.
These achievements did not happen by accident. They are the result of sustained policy support, growing private-sector participation, and a deliberate effort to place innovation at the centre of India’s defence ecosystem.
The Positive Indigenisation Lists, Defence Acquisition Procedure reforms, and the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) framework have collectively created an environment where new ideas can move closer to operational reality.
Driving deep-tech innovation across India, thousands of startups are now contributing to India’s defence and space innovation ecosystem. In emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, autonomous systems, and drones, Indian innovators are beginning to produce solutions that compete with global benchmarks. By March 2026, iDEX had engaged 676 startups, MSMEs, and innovators, with 551 design and development
contracts signed.
The ecosystem is no longer theoretical. It is increasingly delivering real capability.
THE UNCLOSED GAP
While the progress is encouraging, there are still important challenges that
deserve attention.
India’s defence R&D expenditure, while growing, remains below what several leading defence powers invest as a proportion of their defence budgets. Defence R&D expenditure has increased significantly over the past decade, and since 2022-23, 25% of that allocation has been opened to industry, startups, and
academic institutions.
This represents meaningful progress. However, technology leadership depends not only on funding innovation but on accelerating its transition into
deployable capability.
The gap between prototype and procurement remains one of the most frequently cited challenges across the startup ecosystem. Certification timelines, testing bottlenecks, and working capital constraints can slow the journey from innovation to induction.
Building world-class defence technology requires more than innovation at the prototype stage. It requires a system that can consistently transform ideas into operational capability.
THE ADITI SIGNAL
One of the clearest indicators of where India is heading is the ADITI initiative.
Its objective is to accelerate the development of critical and strategic deep-tech technologies with defence applications and export potential, while fostering collaboration among startups, MSMEs, research institutions, and established industry players.
The significance of this initiative lies in the nature of the problems it
seeks to address.
For many years, some of the most advanced technologies were assumed to be beyond domestic reach and therefore sourced from overseas. ADITI reflects a growing confidence that Indian innovators can take on these challenges and deliver indigenous solutions.
That ambition, backed by grants of up to ₹25 crore, signals a meaningful shift in expectations and intent.
INNOVATION AS NATIONAL STRATEGY
For India to realise its Vision 2047 goals, defence innovation cannot remain a sector-specific initiative. It must become a pillar of national technological and economic strategy.
The impact of programmes such as iDEX is already extending beyond defence. Sectors including space, transportation, and critical infrastructure are increasingly adopting similar innovation-led approaches.
The broader opportunity extends well beyond defence.
Investments in defence deep-tech create capabilities, supply chains, and skilled talent that often find applications across multiple sectors. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum communications, advanced propulsion, autonomous systems, and electronic warfare frequently generate benefits that extend far beyond their original military use cases.
Perhaps the most encouraging development is the growing collaboration between the armed forces, industry, startups, academia, and policymakers. Innovation ecosystems succeed when users and developers work closely together, and India’s defence ecosystem is increasingly moving in that direction.
Driving deep-tech innovation across India, thousands of startups are now contributing to India’s defence and space innovation ecosystem. In emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, autonomous systems, and drones, Indian innovators are beginning to produce solutions that compete with global benchmarks
The nations that view defence innovation as a driver of broader technological leadership, rather than simply a security requirement, are often the ones that shape the next generation of global competitiveness.
India has the policy intent. It has the entrepreneurial energy. Increasingly, it also has the results.
THE ROAD TO 2047
Vision 2047 is not a single destination. It is a sequence of choices made over the next two decades about where India chooses to lead and where it chooses to follow.
In defence technology, the direction is becoming increasingly clear. The infrastructure exists. The ecosystem is growing. The export story is gaining momentum.
What remains is the discipline of execution: transforming prototype pipelines into production lines, converting promising innovation into proven capability, and building institutions that can sustain this momentum over decades rather than budget cycles.
India’s innovation journey is no longer about proving what is possible. It is about consistently delivering technologies that are trusted, adopted, and deployed at scale.
The foundations are in place. The opportunity is real. The next two decades will determine how fully India converts that opportunity into technological leadership. The transition from ingenuity to precision is already underway. The challenge now is to sustain it.
The writer is Co-Founder of Big Bang Boom Solutions
