Defence Minister Urges Startups To Modernise Indian Army With Ideas & Innovation

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has urged homegrown startups and innovators to come up with new ideas to modernise the Indian Army. 

Calling for building a self-reliant India, he also called on the entrepreneurs to spur research and innovation in the defence sector. Touting the ‘robust ecosystem’ created by the government, he said that a large number of startups had ventured into the defence sector lately. 

Addressing the gathering, the Minister stated that funds worth INR 300 Cr have been earmarked for 100 iDEX winners to develop products and technologies across 50 domains. 

“Earlier, it was difficult for the youth to contribute in various fields, but initiatives such as iDEX have empowered our young entrepreneurs and given them wings to fly. iDEX, a major initiative towards making India self-reliant, is a platform to provide economic support to entrepreneurs to develop state-of-the-art technologies,” Rajnath Singh said. 

Calling iDEX ‘innovation for innovation’, Singh called for expanding the reach of the initiative to connect more young ignited minds. He also noted that the iDEX had changed the perception that defence production is only for big businesses and industrialists. 

Singh made the comments while inaugurating Manthan 2022, the annual defence event organised by the Innovations for Defence Excellence-Defence Innovation Organisation (iDEX-DIO). Manthan aims to provide a single platform for startups and firms associated with iDEX-DIO to showcase their capabilities, products, and service.

Incubating Defence Startups

Operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence and managed by DIO, iDEX aims to create an ecosystem and offers grants and funding to MSMEs and startups to carry out R&D in the defence sector. DIO has been incorporated as a ‘not for profit’ company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. 

At the event, Singh also stressed that the initiative had encouraged the entrepreneurial potential of the country, adding that it had helped aspiring startups and innovators to work together with other stakeholders in the defence sector.

Since its inception, iDEX has received more than 6,000 applications in the last seven editions of the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) and Open Challenge. Besides, the government has also launched iDEX Prime, which provides grant-in-aid of up to INR 10 Cr to budding defence startups.

Under the iDEX programme, the government also operates the annual Defence Indian Startup Challenge (DISC), directly and solely at homegrown startups in the domain.

In her Budget speech earlier this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also opened up defence-related R&D and manufacturing for startups and other private companies.

These initiatives have been part of the government’s bid to cut down the over-reliance on foreign imports of defence goods. These items have been known to be costly and rake up a sizeable bill for the exchequer. With these baby steps, the centre aims to build a stable Indian defence industry by enabling startups to partner with other arms such as DRDO, BEL, HAL and others. 

Currently, 293 ‘defence equipment’ startups are registered under the government’s ‘Startup India’ mission. Not just that, three investors and six accelerators have been onboarded under the mission to spur the industry. 

Overall, the Indian military tech space is largely populated by public sector undertakings as well as drone and aerial reconnaissance startups. The country’s major defence manufacturing companies include Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

However, the industry has also seen a multitude of players tinkering with a host of sub-domains within the defence space. While Big Bang Boom Solutions develops combat weapons systems, three-decade old Dynalog provides intelligent automation solutions for the defence sector.

India has one of the world’s largest defence spending in the world, accounting for a total budget outlay of INR 5.25 Lakh Cr.