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The Department of Defence Production announced on 28 August 2026 a package of reforms simplifying the Defence Export Standard Operating Procedure and the Open General Export Licence framework.
Three separate OGEL SOPs, covering major platforms, parts and components, and intra-company technology transfer, have been merged into a single framework.
OGEL validity rises from two years to three, and its coverage expands from 41 countries to all countries except sensitive or negative ones and those under UN Security Council sanctions or arms embargoes.
A new provision lets Indian firms with long-term contracts with Foreign OEMs obtain an OGEL tied to that contract, and civil-end-use exports of specified small-calibre arms parts and protective equipment are now permitted.
The reforms follow record numbers for FY 2025-26: defence production of Rs 1.78 lakh crore and defence exports of Rs 38,424 crore.
Defence exports are licensed because the state has an interest in who receives weapons and technology. The default model is transaction-by-transaction: an exporter applies for authorisation for each consignment, and each application is examined and consulted on. That is workable for a handful of large platform deals and crippling for a components supplier shipping repeat orders, because the delay attaches to every shipment. An Open General Export Licence inverts the arrangement. The government vets the exporter and the category of item once, then issues a standing authorisation under which the exporter self-generates the paperwork for each consignment within the permitted list of items and destinations, subject to reporting and conditions. Control moves from the transaction to the licence, which is why widening the eligible destination list and lengthening validity are the two levers that matter most: the first decides how much trade fits inside the licence, the second decides how often the exporter must go back to the government.
Dual-use and munitions items are controlled through the SCOMET framework administered by DGFT; defence-specific items are licensed by the Department of Defence Production, and exam questions often ask which authority handles which.
India targets Rs 3 lakh crore of defence production and Rs 50,000 crore of exports by 2029, which is the benchmark against which these export reforms are judged.
Positive indigenisation lists restrict imports; export liberalisation is the outward-facing half of the same policy, since a domestic industrial base needs order volumes beyond what the Indian armed forces alone can supply.
India joined this export control regime in 2017, and membership underpins the credibility of its assurances on end use to partner countries.