The Indian government has pointed to an increase in the number of defence industrial licences that it has awarded local companies to support their expanded involvement in defence manufacturing.

Shripad Naik, Minister of State for Defence, said in a parliamentary reply on 3 July that up until March 2019 the government had issued a total of 439 licences to 264 local companies. This represents an increase over the 379 licences issued to 230 local firms announced in July 2018.

Statistics published in March by the government's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) showed that about half the licences awarded to local industry were issued between 2001 - the year in which India's private sector was permitted to enter the defence sector - and 2014.