How does a company get authorisation to export defence items from India?

SCOMET is India's list of Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies whose export is controlled. Category 6 is the Munitions List, covering military items, and the Department of Defence Production issues the export authorisation for anything in it. Other SCOMET categories are handled by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and other authorities, so identifying the right category is the first step, not the last.

For munitions list items, the Department of Defence Production issues the export authorisation, notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade as the licensing authority for SCOMET Category 6. Applications are filed on DDP's own online portal and authorisations are digitally signed and issued under its standard operating procedure, rather than through the general SCOMET process used for other categories.

No, they are separate approvals. An item that requires an industrial licence to manufacture still needs that licence before production, and separately needs a Department of Defence Production export authorisation to be shipped out of India if it is a munitions list item. A buyer country's own import permit is a further step that sits outside both Indian approvals entirely.

An OGEL is a one-time standing authorisation from the Department of Defence Production that permits repeated exports of specified defence items to specified destinations, without a separate approval for every individual shipment. It exists to remove the delay of applying case by case for routine, repeat business with an approved destination. Confirm its current terms directly with DDP before planning shipments against it.

India's defence exports reached a record Rs 38,424 crore in FY 2025-26, up 62.66 percent from Rs 23,622 crore the year before, with DPSUs contributing Rs 21,071 crore and the private sector Rs 17,353 crore. Exports went to more than 80 countries, and the number of exporters rose from 128 to 145 over the year, against a stated government target of Rs 50,000 crore by 2029.

Yes. The private sector alone exported Rs 17,353 crore of defence items in FY 2025-26, and the number of exporters rose to 145. A munitions list export still needs a Department of Defence Production authorisation, applied for online, and an item requiring an industrial licence must be manufactured under one; the buyer country's own import permit is a further, separate step.