Closing the most critical gap in India’s defence ecosystem by developing high-thrust indigenous jet engines will require an investment of ₹40,000–50,000 crore: nearly double the Department of Defence Research and Development’s (DDR&D’s) 2025–26 budgetary allocation of around ₹27,000 crore.
Although this investment would be spread over multiple years and includes the creation of critical testing infrastructure, it points to the inadequacy of current defence R&D expenditure. While outlining in January the financial and developmental requirements for building a next-generation aero engine in India, DDR&D Secretary and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman Samir V Kamat argued that R&D spending must rise from the current five per cent of the defence budget to 10-15 per cent to achieve national objectives.
The urgency was reinforced when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address, called on Indian innovators to develop jet engines domestically, affirming that national security cannot rely on foreign dependence.
But defence officials note that the DRDO (part of DDR&D) continues to shoulder most of the country’s R&D burden, with private-sector participation still nascent. Yet the DDR&D has seen its share of the defence budget fall from 5.92 per cent in 2016-17 to 5.45 per cent in 2025–26. While defence allocations — excluding Ministry of Defence (Civil) and pensions — have more than doubled in absolute terms since 2016-17, DDR&D’s outlay has only roughly doubled.
Moreover, this decline comes at a time when the DRDO is executing 292 projects valued at over ₹1 trillion. Of these, 48 fall under Mission Mode programmes — the largest category by value at ₹86,309 crore.
Meanwhile, the United States and China allocate roughly 17 per cent and 15 per cent of their defence budgets, respectively, to R&D — well above India’s current share. In absolute terms, the US spends over $140 billion on defence R&D and China nearly $35 billion, compared with India’s roughly $3 billion at the current rupee-dollar exchange rate.
If India is to become self-reliant, R&D’s declining share in the defence budget will need to be reversed without delay.
Major DRDO projects under way: - Advanced medium combat aircraft: India’s first stealth jet
- Light combat aircraft (LCA Mk-2): Heavier, more advanced variant of Tejas Mk1A
- Future Ready Combat Vehicle: Next-generation main battle tank
- Air-borne early warning & control Mark-2 system: Airborne surveillance and battle management platform with extended radar coverage and endurance
- Long range surface to air missile: Indigenous counterpart to the Russian S-400 system
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 "R&D share in defence budget dips amid self-reliance ambitions")
