India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has sharply criticised the country’s defence manufacturers, exposing serious concerns over New Delhi’s claims of self-reliance and raising new questions about the credibility of domestically branded military equipment.
Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi, General Chauhan accused several companies of misleading the armed forces by falsely labelling imported systems as “70% indigenous.”
“We expect a bit of nationalism and patriotism in your profit-driven endeavours,” he remarked, noting that firms frequently “over-promised” their capabilities and then failed to deliver equipment within required timelines. According to The Print, the comments referred to emergency procurements (EP) — fast-track purchases worth up to INR 3 billion that bypass lengthy defence ministry procedures.
The CDS warned that repeated delivery failures under emergency procurement powers had left India’s military without essential capabilities, despite government claims of rapid industrial progress. He said some firms had no genuine manufacturing ability and merely repackaged imported items, calling such behaviour a direct threat to national security.
“Industry will have to be truthful about their capabilities. You cannot leave us in a lurch,” he stressed. “You sign a contract, don’t deliver in that particular time, it is a capability that is being lost.”
General Chauhan also criticised inflated pricing and poor competitiveness, saying Indian suppliers were sometimes “overpriced” even by global standards.
His comments stand in stark contrast to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” defence narrative, which claims rising indigenous production.
The CDS’s remarks come days after he publicly acknowledged — for the first time — that India lost fighter jets in its recent clashes with Pakistan. In an interview with Bloomberg, Chauhan said the losses were due to tactical mistakes that had since been corrected.
“What is important is not the jets being down, but why they were being downed,” he said, adding that the air force had identified and remedied its errors before resuming operations.
The admission follows the intense May confrontation between Pakistan and India, triggered by a terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, IIOJK — an accusation Islamabad denies. The episode escalated into the most serious military exchange between the two nuclear-armed rivals in decades.
India carried out unprovoked strikes for three days, killing several civilians, before Pakistan responded with Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, targeting multiple Indian military sites. Pakistan downed seven Indian Air Force jets, including three Rafale fighters, along with numerous drones.
After nearly 87 hours of hostilities, the conflict ended on May 10 under a ceasefire arranged by the United States.
