NEW DELHI: The stocks of leading Indian Defence companies surged on Friday after the government announced that annual Defence production hit a record high of nearly Rs 1.27 lakh crore in the financial year 2023-24, reflecting a growth of 16.7 per cent over Defence production of the previous financial year.

The Ministry of Defence achieved the highest-ever growth in indigenous Defence production in value terms during FY24, on the back of successful implementation of the policies and initiatives led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focussing on achieving ‘Aatmanirbharta’.

The Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) stock soared by 9.16 per cent, Mazagon Dock saw a gain of 1.21 per cent, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) surged by 0.56 per cent, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) climbed by 2.80 per cent and Cochin Shipyard rallied 5.41 per cent.

Of the total value of production (VoP) in 2023-24, about 79.2 per cent has been contributed by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs)/other PSUs and 20.8 per cent by the private sector.

It may be recalled that Defence exports touched a record-high of Rs 21,083 crore in FY 2023-24, reflecting a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore.

In the last five years (since 2019-20), the value of Defence production has been increasing steadily, and grown by over 60 per cent.