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Defence indigenisation and exports
How India buys arms and makes them at home: the acquisition council and its procedures, lists that reserve items for Indian industry, defence industrial corridors, exports and foreign investment. It serves GS3 answers on the indigenisation of technology.
19 Aug 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Positive Indigenisation List
A private firm will not spend on developing a part unless it knows the order is waiting, and a Positive Indigenisation List is that assurance written down. The sixth one was notified in August.
- The Department of Defence Production notified the sixth list, of 405 items.
- The 405 are line replaceable units, sub-systems, spares and components rather than whole platforms.
- They fit platforms such as the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the Su-30MKI, T-90 tanks and the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM).
- SRIJAN, the defence indigenisation portal, has listed over 33,000 items since 2020, of which over 15,700 are indigenised.
- In the same month the Defence Minister approved transferring the Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) technologies for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry.
The Hindu, 19 Aug 2026: Sixth Positive Indigenisation List notified (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 25 Aug 2026: DRDO missile technology transfer and sixth Positive Indigenisation List (opens in a new tab)
7 Sep 2026 · Prelims and Mains
Defence Acquisition Council
Before the armed forces can buy anything large, a council chaired by the Defence Minister has to agree that they need it. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) is where a capital purchase is first approved, and what it grants is a decision rather than a payment.
- Its clearance is the grant of Acceptance of Necessity, which is a decision to buy and not yet money committed.
- In September it cleared proposals worth about ₹1.10 lakh crore, about 98 per cent of it from Indian industry.
- The Army's list runs to Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance vehicles, the Sarvatra Bridge System and Advanced Light Helicopters.
- The Navy's includes Arudhra radars and marine gas turbines for warship propulsion, to be developed at home.
- The Air Force's includes a ground based multi-purpose jammer against adversaries' radars.