The Big Bang in Indian Defense Is Delayed
Foreign companies have reasons to be leery of this $250 billion modernization plan.
An Indian Air Force jet at Kalaikunda Air Force Station, West Bengal.
Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/BloombergIndia has millions of military personnel, billions of dollars in arms spending and grave threats on its borders, yet the nation doesn’t make its own fighter jets and anti-tank missiles. Is that a massive opportunity for investors? Not so fast.
India has been striving toward defense self-sufficiency since the 1960s. The country has one of the world’s largest military budgets and also is the top arms importer, buying about 70 percent of its needs abroad. Last year, defense spending rose 5.5 percent to almost $64 billion, data last week showed. Bernstein estimates this could represent a $35 billion opportunity for the private sector.