Determined to build defence industry, Rajnath tells Russian counterpart

Ahead of the Modi-Putin summit, India and Russia reaffirmed defence cooperation, with New Delhi pushing for co-development, technology transfer and deeper military ties

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said India was determined to build its indigenous defence industry for both local production and exports when he met his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov in New Delhi to discuss bilateral military cooperation.

 

Singh and Belousov co-chaired the 22nd session of India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation.

 

The meeting was held ahead of the 23rd India-Russia summit-level talks that are to take place between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

 

Singh “stressed on new opportunities for enhancing collaboration between both counties across niche technologies”, according to a media statement from the Ministry of Defence.

 

Belousov, according to the same statement, highlighted that both countries “are united by many years of friendship and strategic cooperation”, adding that the Russian defence industry was ready to support India towards its goal of becoming self-reliant in defence production.

 

The next round of this meeting is expected to take place in Russia in 2026.

 

While no major defence deals were announced ahead of Putin’s India visit over Thursday-Friday, and economics was the official agenda of a joint forum on Thursday, the long focus of the bilateral relationship on defence still remained.

 

The two defence ministers met along with their respective delegations at the city’s Manekshaw Centre.   

 

Between 2009 and 2013, India imported 76 per cent of its defence goods from Russia. That number fell to 36 per cent between 2019 and 2023, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

 

India’s reliance on Russian defence items has significantly reduced, but it continues to buy advanced goods such as the S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system, used effectively for air defence by India during its four-day conflict against Pakistan in May.

 

Two pending batteries -- of the five contracted at $5.43 billion in 2018 -- delayed by the Ukraine war, are expected to be delivered by Russia to India in 2026-27, Indian military sources said. India is interested in buying more S-400 units from Russia, they said.

 

A formal “declaration of strategic partnership” was signed in 2000. Bilateral ties were categorised a “special-and-privileged strategic partnership” in 2021.