New Delhi, March 11 India is committed to the welfare of its neighbors while remaining firm on its zero-tolerance approach towards terrorism, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth said on Wednesday.
He made this statement in his keynote address at a national seminar – "Changing Dynamics in India's Neighbourhood" – organized here by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) as part of activities being undertaken to commemorate its 25th anniversary.
Invoking India's civilisational ethos that combines compassion with decisive strength, Seth made special reference to Operation Sindoor last year, a landmark military operation demonstrating the nation's resolve following the Pahalgam terror attack, the defence ministry said in a statement.
He said that, unlike all previous wars since 1947, Operation Sindoor was executed with various indigenous platforms, a powerful testament to the success of self-reliance in the defence sector.
Seth, while outlining the transformation of India's defence industrial base, said that defence exports have grown from ₹686 crore in 2014 to ₹23,622 crore in 2025, with a target of ₹29,000 crore in 2026 and ₹50,000 crore by 2029.
The defence budget has reached an all-time high of ₹7.85 lakh crore. The Department of Defence Production has achieved indigenisation of 3,190 defence components out of 5,012 under the positive indigenisation lists, it said.
The MSME sector in defence has grown from approximately one crore units in 2014 to 6.5 crore units today, providing employment to 25 crore people.
India's start-up ecosystem has grown from 1,000 start-ups in 2014 to over 2.9 million, establishing India as the world's third-largest start-up nation, the ministry said.
Referring to India's relations with its neighbours, Seth said that Bangladesh is a "valued trade partner".
He said that India and Nepal are "inseparable", united by history, culture, and shared security interests, adding that India continues to support Nepal through infrastructure projects including the Janakpur-Kurtha railway link, hydropower projects, trauma centres, and the Motihari pipeline.
The event witnessed the release of a landmark policy document on artificial intelligence in the military domain, reflecting India's forward-looking vision for AI integration in national security – enhancing operational capability, strengthening decision superiority, and promoting responsible innovation.
SAMADH (Situational Awareness for Aerial Drones), designed and developed by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), a premier deep-tech laboratory of DRDO, was officially launched at the event.
SAMADH is a scalable, extensible sovereign AI platform providing real-time situational awareness across the full spectrum of warfare, including autonomous and swarm drone environments, it said.
The Integrated Online Training and Evaluation Programme (IOTEP) was also launched to cultivate a joint operational mindset among India's middle-level military leadership.
Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Air Marshal Asutosh Dixit, in his remarks underscored the critical importance of the rapidly evolving geopolitical dynamics in India’s neighbourhood.
He highlighted that the changing strategic landscape and emerging challenges in the immediate neighbourhood require careful assessment and sustained engagement.
Emphasising the growing complexities in regional relations, he noted that coordinated and comprehensive efforts across multiple stakeholders would be essential to effectively address these challenges and advance India’s strategic interests in the region.
The event brought together senior policymakers, diplomats, military leaders, strategic scholars and practitioners to deliberate on India's evolving security environment and the broader implications for national and regional stability.