Defence Economics & Industry

About Centre

India spends a significant amount of resources on its national defence. Efficiency in utilisation of resources is not only an economic imperative but vital for defence preparedness. In view of this, the Defence Economics and Industry Centre was created in 2006 to promote research on various economic aspects of India’s defence. Since its inception, the Centre has undertaken a number of policy relevant studies besides constantly engaging vital stakeholders (Ministry of Defence, Armed Forces and Industry) on a range of issues. The major focus areas of the Centre are:

Defence Acquisition
- Organisational and procedural improvement
- Offsets
Defence Industry
- Self-reliance in Defence Production
- Efficiency of Defence Public Sector Undertakings/Ordnance Factory Board
- Enhancing Private Sector Participation in Defence Production
Defence Research and Development
Defence Budget

The Fourth Positive Indigenisation List: A Step Forward for India

The Positive Indigenisation List is a significant step towards achieving the government’s objective of self-reliance in defence production.

Strengthening Resilience: Atmanirbhar Bharat and Tackling Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

The complexity and interconnection of global supply chains has heightened the realisation of the need for supply chain resilience and self-reliance in production.

Rajneesh Singh
August 17, 2023
IDSA Comments

Enriching the Defence Contours of India-Maldives Relations

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh’s visit to Maldives has strengthened the countries’ long-standing ties and expanded defence cooperation.

The Wagner Group: A Tool of Hybrid Warfare

The Wagner Group has become an indispensable tool of hybrid warfare for the Russian state

BrahMos: 25 Years of the Joint Venture

India needs to more actively develop marketing and promotion networks to promote defence sales.

Defence Budget 2023–24: Trend Analysis

In the Union Budget 2023–24, the estimated allocations for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are Rs 5,93,537.64 crores, an increase of 13 per cent over BE 2022–23 (Rs 5,25,166.15 crores).

The Race for the Indian Naval Fighter Contract

Dassault and Boeing have been aggressively pitching their excellent products to fulfil India’s naval fighter aircraft requirements.

Defence Procurement: Negative Lists with Positive Implications

The defence indigenisation lists are expected to promote domestic arms manufacturing and reduce the burden of arms imports.

Mukesh Kumar
September 30, 2022
IDSA Comments

Applicability of CVC Guidelines to Defence Procurement

Given that the Department of Expenditure will henceforth be the nodal department for issuing procurement related instructions in future, the Ministry of Defence must institute a system to promptly incorporate them in the MoD procurement manuals.

Amit Cowshish
August 29, 2022
IDSA Comments

Issues in Co-Development and Co-Production of Defence Equipment

The success of the co-development-cum-production push in Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 would depend on the commercial viability of the co-developed product, apart from overcoming a host of conceptual and procedural challenges.

Amit Cowshish
August 17, 2022
IDSA Comments