India convened an industry roundtable on defence technology collaboration and manufacturing at the Dubai Airshow 2025, bringing together representatives from around 50 companies across India, the UAE, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil and Italy. The session was chaired by Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth and attended by Ambassador of India to the UAE Deepak Mittal and Joint Secretary (Defence Production) Amit Satija.
The roundtable focused on expanding joint defence production, strengthening technological cooperation and encouraging global companies to explore manufacturing opportunities in India. The meeting formed part of India’s broader participation at the airshow, which includes an Indian pavilion, independent exhibits, displays by Indian startups and demonstrations by the LCA Tejas and the Suryakiran Aerobatic Team.
The discussions highlighted the rapid growth of India’s defence innovation ecosystem, demonstrated by the strong participation of Indian startups at the Airshow. Officials encouraged industry representatives to explore these exhibits and engage with the companies to understand the scale of emerging technological capabilities. The session built on earlier interactions held at IDEX 2025, which promoted open dialogue on ongoing projects, future plans and operational challenges. Participants were invited to share concerns that may require policy or procedural intervention to support faster production and co-development in India.
The roundtable also underscored the significant expansion of India’s defence industrial base over the past decade. What was once limited to a small group of public sector enterprises has grown to nearly 200 manufacturing companies, driven by a sharp rise in licensing during the last two years. The number of startups and MSMEs in the defence sector has increased from fewer than 80 to more than 1,600. Under the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) programme, prototypes developed by young enterprises have secured domestic and export orders worth about Rs 3,200 crore. The roundtable concluded with a call for deeper collaboration to advance co-development, co-production and supply-chain partnerships within India’s expanding defence manufacturing ecosystem.
