Are Indian weapons falling into the wrong hands? Defense Ministry has stepped up monitoring of weapon exports

New Delhi: The Defence Ministry is tightening monitoring of weapons being manufactured in India. Also, after some reports of weapons falling into the wrong hands, the Defence Ministry has asked the defence industry to strictly follow the rules of “end-user certification” for export. In the last few years, India’s defence sector has seen a rapid increase in the production of weapons for both military use and export orders. The Ukraine-Russia crisis has led to an increase in arms manufacturing around the world and there have been many reports of weapons reaching the hands of any country involved in the conflict without the permission of the country of origin.

Defense Ministry will keep an eye on the import pattern
The defence ministry now wants to set up an internal portal that will monitor the import patterns of defence companies, especially explosives and primers. “We want to create an internal portal so that imports can also be monitored as these should not go into the wrong hands. There have been some reports of incidents where weapons have reached the wrong people,” a senior defence ministry official told industry representatives, without giving details about these reports.

The value of defence production in India has reached Rs 1,08,684 crore in the financial year 2022-23, with the share of private companies being Rs 21,083 crore and the rest coming from government companies. The export of defence products has also increased to Rs 21,083 crore in the financial year 2023-24, with private companies contributing a major part of it.

The government is promoting the export of weapons
Although the government is promoting the export of weapons, strict rules and regulations apply to selling weapons to some countries. Officials have warned the defense industry to be cautious. They said that ensure that the country which is buying lethal weapons gives in writing that it will not sell those weapons to any other country. he/she said, ‘Especially due to the current geopolitical situation, you (the industry) have to gather information about the entire chain of end users and tell the government of that country that they will not send it to any other country.’

For example, Indian companies are currently not allowed to export arms to Ukraine, while most companies avoid doing business directly with Russia for fear of Western sanctions. Other countries, including Turkey, China and Pakistan, are also barred from exporting arms.