Experts urge strong defence base

Besides Hooda, other panellists were Sujan Chinoy, director-general of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; and Rajinder Singh Bhatia, chairman of Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd, a defence subsidiary of Bharat Forge. Satarupa Bhattacharjya of Business Standard moderated the discussion.

Chinoy, a former ambassador, traced the idea of strategic autonomy to India’s foundational foreign principles.

“Strategic autonomy really means independence of decision making,” he said, noting that the concept has been around long before the Cold War era or even the time when India adopted non-alignment as a foreign policy tool.

Chinoy noted serious gaps in India’s defence production. Despite its success in indigenisation, India remains the largest importer of foreign weapons, he said.

Framing the debate more bluntly, Hooda said, “Strategic autonomy is a function of power.” 

He added that countries must be able to “resist coercion by great powers”, which requires military strength.

“India today is often ranked among the world’s top three or four militaries, with significant operational experience across high-altitude borders and the Indian Ocean region. Its nuclear capability provides critical leverage,” he added.

But power is relative. With China as India’s primary strategic competitor, Hooda called for a stronger defence industrial base, greater private sector participation and faster procurement cycles. 

He also pointed to low R&D spending that is roughly 0.65 per cent of GDP, and an imbalance between public and private investment in research.

Bhatia placed the debate in the context of India’s economic ambitions.

“India spends close to $80 billion on defence, which translates into 3.5 per cent, maybe 4 per cent of global defence expenditure. If we continue to grow at the current pace, by 2047, the projections are that this figure will rise to 10-16 per cent of global defence spending,” he said, adding that the military-industrial complex we are talking about today will have to be seven to eight times larger than it is now.