A parliamentary panel has revealed that the Defence Research and Development Organisation has saved a staggering Rs 2,64,156 crore in the last five years through its indigenous research efforts. This observation was made in a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, presented in Parliament on Tuesday. The committee said that both in the past and the current year, "crucial milestones in developing next-generation hypersonic technologies and missiles have been achieved" by the DRDO.
The panel congratulated the agency for its "various feats" and expressed confidence that it will "continue its successful stride" as it enhances India's capabilities in complex and critical defence technologies. The report added, "The Committee has also been apprised that DRDO has been able to save an amount of Rs 2,64,156 crore because of its own indigenous research during the last five years."
Major defence breakthroughs highlighted by government
The government also briefed the committee on several recent achievements by the DRDO. The first long-range hypersonic anti-ship missile underwent successful flight testing in November 2024. Earlier, in March 2024, the DRDO recorded another landmark with the successful test of its first Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle technology using the Agni ballistic missile. This critical system allows a single missile to deploy multiple warheads at separate targets.
In addition, the Very Short Range Air Defence System has been indigenously developed and successfully tested. The Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile has also completed the Provisional Staff Qualitative Requirements validation trials of the Indian Army.
28 lakh defence pensioners shifted to SPARSH platform
In a separate report, the committee was informed that India currently has 6,40,536 defence civilian pensioners and 26,79,645 armed forces pensioners. The System for Pension Administration (Raksha), known as SPARSH, is being implemented for streamlined pension sanction and disbursement. The panel noted that 28.24 lakh defence pensioners have already been migrated to SPARSH, with Rs 67,388.45 crore disbursed through the platform in FY 2024-25 up to August 2024. While appreciating this progress, the committee recommended fast-tracking the migration of the remaining pensioners.
Defence PSUs target new markets for export growth
The report also highlighted that new defence Public Sector Undertakings have identified key target countries and exportable products in line with global requirements as part of efforts to boost India’s defence exports and strengthen its global footprint.
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