At a time when India's self-reliance push in defence is increasingly being powered not just by the defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs), but also by private players who are now building artillery systems, armoured platforms and drones among other things, the government is also willing to consider including the private sector in building different types of ballistic missiles.
Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, while speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Annual Business Summit 2026 recently, revealed that there is increased willingness to transfer technology to the private sector for various types of ballistic missiles.
He observed that the time has come to operationalise such plans, as such platforms have become increasingly important in modern warfare.
“..I think that you will see steps being taken by the government to ensure that we have sufficient private sector involvement in that space as well,” he was quoted as saying, according to The Business Line.
Such a move follows the decision of the government to allow private sector participation in the development of India's fifth-generation fighter jet programme, Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
The statement from the defence secretary comes even as IG Defence, a Noida-based private sector defence technology startup specialising in the design, development, and deployment of advanced unmanned aerial systems (UAS), short-range missile systems, and counter-unmanned solutions, has come out with an indigenous short-range missile system. According to the company, the missile system, JWALA, is engineered for rapid response and battlefield precision. According to the company, the advanced inertial navigation systems, pinpoint targeting accuracy, and terminal phase guidance optimisation make it a highly capable weapon.