New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): Dr. Samir V Kamat, Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on Thursday urged Indian industry to significantly boost investments in research and development to strengthen the country’s indigenous defence capabilities. Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2025, he stressed the imperative of innovation to meet the challenges of modern warfare.
“We need to invest more in research and development. Today, we spend 5 percent of our Defence budget on R&D. The Raksha Mantri has promised us that in the next five years, this will increase gradually to 10 percent of the Defence budget,” Kamat stated.
“You can’t afford to fight future wars with past technologies. If you have to win future battles, you have to invest in R&D within the country,” he added, highlighting the critical need for homegrown innovation to maintain strategic edge.
Kamat congratulated the armed forces for their success in Operation Sindoor and lauded the Indian industry for its role in producing equipment that supported the operation effectively. “Let me place on record the DRDO’s appreciation of the armed forces’ efforts in conducting operations very successfully. I would also like to congratulate the Indian industry for helping us and producing the equipment they could use successfully during this operation,” he said.
He further applauded the contribution of Indian industry in helping India become the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Highlighting the rapid pace of technological change, Kamat pointed out the importance of not just manufacturing but also the ability to design and develop cutting-edge systems domestically. “Technological changes are galloping. Although manufacturing is required, without the ability to design and develop your systems, you will always have systems that are not cutting-edge. We are not the leading R&D nation in the world at the moment. So we will have to catch up, which can be done by using the new emerging technologies,” he remarked.
Kamat expressed confidence that progress in research and development will not only strengthen India’s defence ecosystem but also boost defence exports. “We will work with you closely to make India a leading R&D country where people look to us for new innovations in defence technologies. If that happens, our exports will also increase.”
He concluded with a strategic vision aligned with India’s broader national goals: “We will be at a position where our enemies would not want to deal with us in any form of war, and we can then grow economically at a much faster rate with our focus on lifting the country to become a developed country, which is the vision of our Prime Minister by 2047.”
(ANI)
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