The defence ministry had announced 2025 as the ‘Year of Reforms', setting an ambitious target of transforming the India's armed forces into a technologically-advanced, combat-ready force that is capable of multi-domain integrated operations.
As the curtains came down on the ‘Year of Reforms 2025’, the country's defence ecosystem has made significant progress in strengthening the jointness of the three services, enhancing defence preparedness, promoting self-reliance, and improving welfare delivery mechanisms, the defence ministry noted.
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The reform drive has been translated into tangible capability-building across land, sea and air domains.
Since January 2025, the Defence Acquisition Council cleared capital procurement proposals worth over ₹3.84 lakh crore, signalling a sharp focus on modernisation a focus on self-reliance.
By the end of December, contracts worth ₹1.82 lakh crore had been signed, fast-tracking the induction of new platforms, weapons and systems.
The pace of spending reflected this urgency. By December 2025, nearly 80 per cent of the capital acquisition budget—around ₹1.2 lakh crore—had been utilised, while overall capital expenditure touched 76 per cent, covering infrastructure, R&D and land assets.
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A key pillar of the reforms was defence industrial capacity. Private sector participation in defece sector has been expanded through streamlined licensing, MSME capability mapping and shared access to testing and trial facilities.
Besides, 25 per cent of defence research grants were earmarked for private firms, startups and academia, reinforcing innovation pipelines and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers.
Procurement reforms further sought to compress timelines. The rollout of the Defence Procurement Manual 2025, decentralised financial powers and a simplified technology transfer policy sought to remove procedural bottlenecks that have historically slowed capability induction.
Efforts were also made to rationalise defence exports and attract higher FDI, positioning India not just as a buyer, but as an emerging defence manufacturing hub.
"Formation of an export promotion body, implementation of quality assurance 4.0 and Industry 4.0 in DPSUs and establishment of a National Integrated Test Laboratory for defence platforms are being advanced for defence production and quality enhancement.
On the operational front, reforms focused on jointness and future preparedness of the three forces. Establishment of Joint Operations Control Centre, Creation of a Future Operations Analysis Group, promotion of joint training programmes and finalisation of the Integrated Capability Development Plan are under various stages of implementation, the defence ministry said.
"Steps taken in this direction bore fruit during the planning and execution of Operation Sindoor."
Technological integration too has advanced, with the deployment of a tri-service Geographical Information System and harmonisation of tactics, techniques and procedures across the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Besides, the expansion of women’s roles in combat and leadership positions, promotion of military tourism and preparation of a long-term roadmap for operational infrastructure and accommodation have been completed.
Beyond combat readiness, reforms extended to veterans’ welfare and administrative efficiency. The SPARSH pension portal onboarded over 31 lakh pensioners, while reforms in the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme improved access to medicines, telemedicine and specialised care—often cited as long-pending gaps in welfare delivery.