India’s defence production doubled in a decade — from ₹60,000 crore to ₹1,20,000 crore — because a government finally stopped believing Gandhian pacifism and import dependency were the same thing.
At the Vimarsh 24 defence conference, Captain Sunil Kumar delivers a structured analysis of India’s defence manufacturing landscape, anchored in Kautilya’s seven elements of state power — particularly army, allies, and treasury. He traces the historic mindset failure: India’s stated belief in Ahimsa made it reluctant to build arms for itself, yet somehow comfortable importing them from others. The absurdity was explicit — the same country that claimed Gandhi and Nehru as its symbols was running one of the world’s largest arms import bills.
The strategic framework is Kautilyan: strength is not for using but for deterrence — adversaries who calculate the cost of conflict against your demonstrated capability will seek to remain at peace. India’s semiconductor vulnerabilities, engine technology gaps, and dependency on foreign vendor supply chains for submarines are acknowledged honestly. But the directional clarity of the last decade — from R&D investment to export ambition to the indigenous nuclear submarine programme — represents a civilisational course correction, not just a procurement change.

About the Speakers:
Capt. Sunil Kumar
Indian Navy