The recent military entanglement between India and Pakistan, apart from showing India’s defence sector as the new fulcrum of sovereign assertiveness, also reflects a tectonic reorientation in the strategic doctrine and economic philosophy of a new, Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat.

India’s defence exports have risen 33 times in the past 10 years, from $113 million in FY16 to $2.8 billion in FY25, positioning India as an important player in the international defence supply chain and as a credible contender for a place in the stratified hierarchy of global arms export. India’s share in global defence exports, as per the World Bank’s SIPRI trend indicator, has risen from 4% in FY14 to 10% by 2023.

This quantum leap reveals a structural recalibration of India’s military-industrial complex into a globally competitive entity, with supply chains extending across 80 partner nations. This reconstitution of India’s martial-industrial complex has been undergirded by a dual-front approach. The proliferation of strategically positioned defence corridors such as the Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu nodes, encompassing 11 high-potential nodes, has already yielded ₹8,658 crore in realised investments, with 253 MoUs facilitating a pipeline of ₹53,439 crore as of February 2025. And, a deliberate pivot toward high-velocity platforms including precision-guided munitions, supersonic cruise missile systems such as BrahMos, and autonomous counter-drone frameworks such as the recently test-fired Bhargavastra system signal India’s foray into fifth-generation, asymmetrical warfare capabilities. Furthermore, if India........

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