The Ministry of Defence announced on September 7, 2026, that India’s armed forces have been granted both the freedom and resources to respond with force to security threats, including striking targets across borders. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stated that India distinguishes clearly between maintaining peace and showing weakness, and will meet terrorism with decisive action. The announcement comes as the government pushes defence modernisation and indigenous weapons development.
What the announcement contains
The Defence Minister emphasised that India will not tolerate terrorism sponsored against it, and military strikes will be the response rather than dialogue. He referenced past operations including Surgical Strikes, the Balakot Airstrike and Operation Sindoor as examples of this approach.
On defence production, Singh highlighted major growth figures. India’s defence output has risen from around Rs 40,000 crore before 2014 to approximately Rs 1.80 lakh crore currently. Defence exports have grown 56-fold to over Rs 38,000 crore, with a target of Rs 50,000 crore by 2029.
The government has expanded indigenous weapons capability, producing systems including the Tejas fighter aircraft, Arjun tank, Akash air defence missiles, Astra air-to-air missiles, Pinaka rocket launchers, and the Prachand and Dhruv helicopters. INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, has been inducted into the Navy. Work is underway on sixth-generation fighter aircraft and hypersonic missile development.
Private sector participation has grown significantly. Over 16,000 micro, small and medium enterprises now work in defence manufacturing, with more than 2,000 defence start-ups currently active, up from a few dozen in 2018. The government has received investment proposals worth approximately Rs 70,000 crore for Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, with nearly Rs 10,000 crore already invested. All 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings are now profitable.
The defence budget has grown from Rs 2.5 lakh crore over 12 years to approximately Rs 8 lakh crore currently.
What this means for you
If you work in defence or manufacturing, more private companies and small businesses are entering this sector with government support and significant investment. If you are interested in defence technology innovation, government schemes like iDEX and iDEX-Prime provide avenues to develop ideas with ministry backing. More broadly, the announcement signals that India’s military posture has shifted from defensive to proactive, which shapes how the country will approach border security and counter-terrorism going forward.