India needs a national defence innovation authority: SIDM President

Navy chief says more than 150 new start-ups and MSMEs have entered the defence ecosystem

India needs to establish a national defence innovation authority that brings industry, academia and the armed forces onto the same platform to ensure the country can meet the projected annual defence procurement of $140 billion by 2047 through indigenous technology, Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) President Rajinder Singh Bhatia said on Tuesday.

 

“If the current rate of about nine per cent growth in the budget continues, India’s defence budget is likely to reach $400 billion by 2047, with defence acquisition rising to $140 billion,” said Bhatia, who is also the chairman of Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited, the defence subsidiary of Bharat Forge. Speaking at the fourth edition of the Indian Navy’s Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) Seminar, Swavlamban 2025, Bhatia said this indicated that a substantial defence market was waiting to be serviced, which in turn required a significant expansion of the country’s defence manufacturing and industrial ecosystem.

 

Bhatia also called for increasing the share of research and development (R&D) in the defence budget to the global benchmark of 10–15 per cent, adding that an action plan was needed to achieve this. At around Rs 26,000 crore, the Ministry of Defence’s Department of Defence Research and Development accounted for 5.1 per cent of the defence budget in 2025–26.

 

Along with enhanced budgetary allocation, the SIDM president also called for establishing a national defence innovation authority that would serve as a central body bringing together industry, academia and the armed forces. “We need to break down the silos,” he added.

 

Underscoring that cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune are home to more start-ups per 100,000 people than even Israel, Bhatia said that the way the country and all stakeholders handle failure will determine how successful it can be in defence innovation. “Results will only come when we help start-ups go through the valley of death, which will happen to 80–90 per cent of them,” he added, emphasising that while most cutting-edge ideas will ultimately fail, the ones that do succeed will do so only if entrepreneurs are enabled to take on a greater risk appetite.

 

Speaking at the same event on the outcomes achieved through Swavlamban, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), noted that of the 565 iDEX challenges announced so far, the Indian Navy accounts for a significant 35 per cent.

 

Stating that these challenges are being shepherded towards project realisation, the CNS underscored that across these 198 iDEX Navy challenges, the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) has committed more than Rs 1,100 crore for prototype development, with over Rs 400 crore already disbursed.

 

“In this process, more than 150 new start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from across the nation have entered the defence ecosystem, significantly widening the country’s innovation base and strengthening indigenous capability,” he added.

 

The CNS also highlighted that with 28 Acceptances of Necessity (initial clearances) worth more than Rs 2,700 crore already secured, and 16 procurement orders exceeding Rs 1,400 crore placed, it is evident that these developments are now translating into real operational advantages.

 

The Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) framework was launched by the government to foster technology development in the defence and aerospace sector by engaging MSMEs, start-ups, R&D institutes and academia.