Governance of Indian Defence Sector

Legally, the President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence Forces. 

Ministry of Defence

• Ministry of Defence controls the administration of the Indian Armed Forces.
• It is headquartered at the Cabinet Secretariat, Raisina Hill (in New Delhi).
• The Ministry of Defence has the following child agencies. 
  1. Department of Defence
  2. Department of Defence Production
  3. Defence Finance
  4. Department of Defence Research and Development
  5. Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare
  6. Indian Armed Forces
  7. Inter-Services Organisations

Three services of Indian Armed Forces

Indian Defence System has been divided into 3 services, i.e. Army, Navy and Air Force.

1. Army

• Indian Army defends the territorial sovereignty of India.
• India has the third-largest army with 13 lakh active personnel.
• It has 7 commands (6 operational and 1 training)
  1. Northern Command – Udhampur
  2. Western Command – Chandigarh
  3. Central Command – Lucknow
  4. Eastern Command – Kolkata
  5. South Command – Pune
  6. South – Western Command – Jaipur
  7. Training Command – Shimla

2. Air Force

• Indian Air Force defends the Indian airspace.
• There are 1.31 lakh active personnel in the Indian Air Force.
• It has 7 commands (5 operational + 1 training + 1 maintenance)
  1. Eastern Command – Shillong
  2. Western Command – New Delhi
  3. Central Command – Allahabad
  4. Southern Command – Thiruvananthapuram
  5. South-Western Command – Gandhi Nagar
  6. Training Command – Bangalore
  7. Maintenance Command – Nagpur

3. Navy

• Indian Navy protects the territorial waters, coast and Indian geopolitical interests.
• It has ~74,000 active personnel.
• It has 3 operational commands.
  1. Eastern Command – Vishakhapatnam
  2. Western Command – Mumbai
  3. Southern Command – Kochi

4. Joint Commands

• There are two joint commands of the Indian Armed Forces, and these include
  1. Tri-Service Command is headquartered at Andaman and Nicobar
  2. Strategic Force Command (It looks after India’s nuclear weapons)

Side Topic: DRDO

• DRDO = Defence Research and Development Organisation. 
• It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Directorate of Technical Development and Production & Defence Science Organisation.
• DRDO is headquartered in New Delhi, India.
• It works under the administrative control of the Defence Ministry.
• Its primary function includes developing defence technologies. Earlier, it spearheaded important projects, including the Integrated Guided Missile Program (IGMP). 
• However, the DRDO is often criticised for its delayed projects and cost overruns.

Defence Acquisition Council

• It was established in 2001 to tackle corruption and accelerate military weapon procurement.
• It is headed by the Defence Minister.

Defence budget for 2025-26 is Rs 6.81 lakh crore, constituting around 14% of total government expenditure and 3% of India’s GDP.

Side Topic:  SIPRI Report 2025

• India is the 5th largest spender on defence globally (behind the USA,  China, Russia and Germany).
• India is one of the largest importers of arms globally. 

• This term has its origin in ‘theatre warfare’, which means ‘the entire land, sea and air areas are involved directly in the war operations. 
• Theatre Command refers to the unified command under which all the Army, Navy and Air Force resources are pooled, depending upon the threat perception.
• The idea was first recommended by the Kargil Review Committee (1999) and later by the Group of Ministers (2001), Naresh Chandra Committee (2012) and Shekatkar Committee (2016).
• The present plan includes bringing all 17 service commands into 5 unified Theatre Commands.
  • Northern Land Theatre
  • Western Land Theatre
  • Eastern Land Theatre
  • Maritime Theatre Command
  • Air Defence Command

Need for an Integrated Theatre Command

• Various committees constituted in the wake of the Kargil War opined for enhanced coordination between armed forces for a prompt and effective military response.
• It will bring down the cost for procurement as the use of resources can be rationalized, and duplicity in resource procurement can be tackled. 
• It will help India fight any future war, especially with countries like China, using a unified approach. 
• It will also enable joint training, common logistics hubs and faster decision-making through a single commander.

Challenges in the creation of Theatre Command

• There is a lack of consensus over the basic structure of Theatre Command. 
• The Indian Air Force has already expressed reservations about the idea of the formation of Integrated Theatre Command because it is already short of assets. The formation of the Integrated Theatre Command will spread its resources thinly over all the Theatre Commands.
• There is a feeling that Theatre Command will lead to army superiority over the other forces. 
• There is concern regarding the method that will be used to integrate the other security forces such as BSF, ITBP, Assam Rifles and CRPF into Theatre Commands. 
• The Theatre Commands have been based on the idea of conventional security threats. However, in the age of cyber and nuclear warfare, the possibility of conventional attacks is very low. But, Theatre Command can’t tackle such challenges.

Updates (2025): In a test to check whether integrated tri-service units function effectively if India goes ahead with the creation of theatre commands, it has been decided to merge the education branches of the three defence services into a single tri-services Education Corps

Under the present rules, 100 % FDI in the defence sector is allowed. 

FDI in defence is good?

• Public sector companies have consistently failed to meet the requirements of the armed forces. 
• Superior management culture of the private sector will come in India.
• It will help India in saving foreign reserves.
• It will help Indian companies to set up a base in the defence sector. E.g., Boeing’s contract with Tata will help Tata to develop expertise in the defence sector.
• It will help in the generation of jobs.

FDI in Defence is not a good model for India

• Foreign subsidiaries will always put pressure on India for repeat orders. 
• Would dependence on a Lockheed Martin (India) or a Bharat Boeing differ from relying on U.S. principles?
• FDI will not ensure that R&D will happen in India. It just means that the Indian subsidiary of that company will produce hardware in India. In strategic sectors like defence, it is important to achieve the ability to create our fighters & tanks.  
• It will increase the danger of creating a powerful lobby of the armament industry which will aim to protect its interest in future even by promoting insurgencies and terrorism in India.
• A better option is to invest in HAL, DRDO etc. If ISRO can perform well with the provision of autonomy and financial resources, other PSUs can perform as well.