India invites Israeli companies to meet $130 billion weapons need

Defence ministry sets target of 70 per cent self-reliance in weaponry by 2027

India and Israel have been traditionally secretive about defence and security cooperation between their respective governments and industry. On Thursday, however, senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials revealed that of the $4.9 billion in annual trade between the two countries (2019-20), defence purchases from Israel account for over a billion dollars each year. 

Sanjay Jaju, the MoD’s interface with the defence industry, also disclosed that India and Israel are collaborating on research and development (R&D) in nine focus areas, including big data analytics and cyber security.

He was speaking at a webinar on India-Israel defence cooperation, co-organised by the MoD, SIBAT (the