Public and Private Sector in India's Military-Industrial Complex

The role and forms of participation of private and state-owned companies in defense production in India, as well as the peculiarities of India's procurement of arms and military equipment (AME), have undergone significant changes several times since the country gained independence in 1947. The article highlights the key stages of the corresponding transformations in India – from the model of combining private and public defense sector companies in the 1940–1950s, to the consolidation of defense capacities in the hands of the state (state-owned companies) in the 1960–1980s, and further to reverse transition in the 2000s towards the "opening" of the military-industrial complex for the private sector. The reasons that led the Indian government to liberalize defense-industrial policy and open the defense complex to private and foreign investment in the early 2000s were analyzed. Estimates of the effectiveness of projects for the development and production of key combat systems by state-owned companies in India in the absence of competition from the private sector are also given.

India, defense industry, arms and military equipment, licensed production, public and private companies