On 18 August 2026, the Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence, notified the sixth Positive Indigenisation List (PIL), comprising 405 strategically important items with an estimated business potential of about ₹3,070 crore.
The list contains Line Replaceable Units (LRUs), sub-systems, sub-assemblies, spares, components and raw materials — of which 389 items belong to Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and 16 to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
There is a small piece of terminology here that catches out a surprising number of candidates, and it is worth getting right at the start.
Why a "Positive" list is really a negative list
The name suggests encouragement. The mechanism is a prohibition.
A Positive Indigenisation List names items that, after an indicated timeline, may no longer be imported and must be sourced from Indian industry. It is, in substance, a negative import list — and it was in fact called that when the first list was announced, before the terminology was softened.
The design is a deliberate solution to a chicken-and-egg problem in defence manufacturing. An Indian firm will not invest in tooling to make a component unless it is confident of an order. The armed forces will not order from an unproven Indian firm while a reliable import exists. Neither side moves first.
A PIL breaks the deadlock by removing the import option on a published, dated schedule. The timeline is the crucial feature: it gives industry advance notice to develop the item, and it gives the Services certainty that they are not being cut off from a supply before a substitute exists. Announce it without a timeline and you get a shortage; announce it with one and you get an investment signal.
The scale so far. Across the first five lists, 5,012 items were notified. The sixth adds 405 — so more than 5,400 items are now covered.
What is on the sixth list
The items span the full range of platforms in Indian service:
- Air platforms — the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), Su-30MKI, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the AL-31FP engine
- Armoured platforms — T-72, T-90 and BMP-II
- Warships
- Missile systems — Konkurs-M, Invar and MRSAM
- Defence electronics — radars, sonars, fire control systems and satellite communication systems
- High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) ammunition and other critical equipment
Notice what kind of items these are. This is not a list of aircraft and tanks; it is a list of LRUs, sub-assemblies, spares and raw materials. That reflects where import dependence actually bites. A country can assemble a platform domestically and still be strategically dependent if a single line-replaceable unit inside it comes from abroad — because in a prolonged operation it is the spares pipeline, not the initial delivery, that determines whether the fleet keeps flying.
The AL-31FP engine entry illustrates the point exactly. Aero-engines and their components have long been among the hardest categories for India to indigenise, and engine spares are a textbook example of a dependency that is invisible in peacetime and decisive in war.
Indigenisation will be undertaken by the DPSUs and the ICG through their 'Make' procedure and in-house development, with participation from industry, particularly MSMEs.
The SRIJAN portal
The SRIJAN Defence Portal (srijandefence.gov.in) was launched by the DDP in August 2020 as a dedicated platform through which DPSUs and Service Headquarters offer defence items to industry — including MSMEs and start-ups — for indigenous development and production.
The numbers the Ministry reports are the ones worth carrying:
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Items offered for indigenisation (to June 2026) | more than 33,000 |
| Of which notified under the first five PILs | 5,012 |
| Items successfully indigenised | more than 15,700 |
| Estimated import substitution value (last five years) | about ₹9,000 crore |
| DPSU procurement orders on domestic vendors (to March 2026) | about ₹10,000 crore |
Read those two last figures together, because the comparison is the analytical point. Roughly ₹9,000 crore of import substitution over five years is real, but modest against India's total defence procurement. What the portal has genuinely achieved is breadth — 15,700 items and a large vendor base including MSMEs — rather than depth in the highest-value, hardest categories such as engines, advanced sensors and certain propulsion systems. Saying that plainly is a stronger answer than quoting the numbers as an unqualified success.
Where this sits in the self-reliance framework
The PIL is one instrument among several, and an interview answer should place it:
- DAP 2020 categories, in descending order of indigenous preference — Buy (Indian-IDDM) → Buy (Indian) → Buy and Make (Indian) → Buy (Global – Manufacture in India) → Buy (Global). IDDM requires Indian design, development and manufacture, not merely Indian assembly.
- Positive Indigenisation Lists — DDP lists for DPSUs and the Services, restricting import on a timeline.
- Defence industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
- iDEX — Innovations for Defence Excellence, funding startups and MSMEs.
- The Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by the Raksha Mantri, which accords Acceptance of Necessity.
- The seven DPSUs created when the Ordnance Factory Board was dissolved on 1 October 2021 and its 41 factories reorganised — Munitions India, Armoured Vehicles Nigam, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India, Troop Comforts, Yantra India, India Optel and Gliders India.
- Defence exports, now reaching around 100 countries.
The counter-argument worth holding. Restricting imports raises costs in the short run and can delay a capability if the domestic substitute underperforms. The defence of the policy is not that indigenous is always cheaper — often it is not — but that supply security has a value that does not appear in the purchase price, and that value is only collected during a crisis, when an import licence can be withheld by another government. That is the argument to make, rather than a general appeal to self-reliance.
🔑 Revision block
The notification. 18 August 2026 — the Department of Defence Production (DDP) notified the 6th Positive Indigenisation List: 405 items, business potential about ₹3,070 crore — 389 DPSU items and 16 Indian Coast Guard items. Contents: LRUs, sub-systems, sub-assemblies, spares, components and raw materials.
The mechanism — the point most often missed. A "Positive" Indigenisation List is in substance a negative import list: after an indicative timeline, the item may not be imported and must come from Indian industry. The timeline breaks a chicken-and-egg problem — industry will not invest without an assured order, the Services will not order without a proven supplier — by giving industry advance notice and the Services certainty.
The running total. The first five lists covered 5,012 items; the sixth adds 405, taking the total past 5,400.
What is on it. Air — ALH, LUH, Su-30MKI, LCA, AL-31FP engine · Armour — T-72, T-90, BMP-II · Warships · Missiles — Konkurs-M, Invar, MRSAM · Electronics — radars, sonars, fire control, satellite communication · HEAT ammunition.
Why spares rather than platforms. Import dependence bites at the level of the LRU and the spare, not the platform: a fleet assembled in India can still be strategically dependent if the spares pipeline runs abroad. The AL-31FP engine entry is the textbook case — aero-engine dependency is invisible in peacetime and decisive in war.
The SRIJAN portal. Launched by the DDP in August 2020; DPSUs and Service HQs offer items to industry, especially MSMEs and start-ups. To June 2026: over 33,000 items offered · 5,012 notified under the first five PILs · over 15,700 successfully indigenised · import substitution about ₹9,000 crore over five years · DPSU orders on domestic vendors about ₹10,000 crore to March 2026.
The honest reading of those numbers. ₹9,000 crore of substitution is real but modest against total defence procurement. The achievement is breadth — many items, wide vendor base — rather than depth in the hardest categories: engines, advanced sensors, propulsion.
The wider framework. DAP 2020 — Buy (Indian-IDDM) → Buy (Indian) → Buy and Make (Indian) → Buy (Global – Manufacture in India) → Buy (Global); IDDM requires Indian design, not just manufacture · defence corridors in UP and Tamil Nadu · iDEX · Defence Acquisition Council chaired by the Raksha Mantri · the seven DPSUs from the OFB's dissolution on 1 October 2021 (41 factories) · exports reaching about 100 countries.
The counter-argument, for an interview. Import restriction raises short-run cost and can delay capability. The defence is not that indigenous is cheaper — often it is not — but that supply security has a value not reflected in the purchase price, collected only in a crisis, when another government can withhold an export licence.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The 6th Positive Indigenisation List contains: (a) 405 items (b) 5,012 items (c) 101 items (d) 928 items → (a).
Q2. The estimated business potential of the 6th PIL is about: (a) ₹3,070 crore (b) ₹9,000 crore (c) ₹1,943 crore (d) ₹10,000 crore → (a).
Q3. A Positive Indigenisation List is, in effect: (a) a negative import list (b) an export promotion list (c) a tariff schedule (d) a list of banned exports → (a).
Q4. The PIL is notified by the: (a) Department of Defence Production (b) DRDO (c) Defence Acquisition Council (d) Integrated Defence Staff → (a).
Q5. The SRIJAN Defence Portal was launched in: (a) August 2020 (b) October 2021 (c) 2016 (d) 2023 → (a).
Q6. Under the first five PILs, the number of items notified was: (a) 5,012 (b) 405 (c) 15,700 (d) 33,000 → (a).
Q7. Of the 405 items in the 6th PIL, the Indian Coast Guard's share is: (a) 16 (b) 389 (c) 100 (d) 41 → (a).
Q8. "LRU" in defence procurement stands for: (a) Line Replaceable Unit (b) Long Range Utility (c) Light Reconnaissance Unit (d) Limited Repair Upgrade → (a).
Q9. The AL-31FP engine powers the: (a) Su-30MKI (b) LCA Tejas (c) Rafale (d) MiG-21 → (a).
Q10. MRSAM is a: (a) missile system (b) radar (c) helicopter (d) tank → (a).
Q11. Under DAP 2020, the most preferred category is: (a) Buy (Indian-IDDM) (b) Buy (Indian) (c) Buy (Global) (d) Buy and Make (Indian) → (a).
Q12. IDDM requires that the equipment be: (a) indigenously designed, developed and manufactured (b) merely assembled in India (c) imported and modified (d) jointly produced abroad → (a).
Q13. The Ordnance Factory Board was dissolved on: (a) 1 October 2021 (b) 15 August 2020 (c) 1 April 2019 (d) 26 January 2022 → (a) — its 41 factories became seven DPSUs.
Q14. iDEX primarily supports: (a) startups and MSMEs (b) foreign OEMs (c) DPSUs only (d) academic research only → (a).
Q15. India's defence industrial corridors are in: (a) Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (b) Gujarat and Maharashtra (c) Karnataka and Telangana (d) Odisha and Bihar → (a).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Defence indigenisation is asked in four ways. The list item — which PIL, how many items, and the count under earlier lists; the "positive list is a negative import list" trick is the most common conceptual trap. The DAP category item — the five categories in order of preference, and what IDDM demands; this appears almost every cycle. The institution item — DDP, DRDO, DAC and the seven DPSUs, and which does what. The platform item — which engine powers which aircraft, and which missile belongs to which system, drawn from the list's own contents. The fresh 2026 hook is the 6th PIL of 405 items worth ₹3,070 crore and the SRIJAN figures. We reference the pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for NDA or the SSB? "Is import restriction good policy?" is a question with a genuinely two-sided answer, and boards notice candidates who can price supply security rather than simply praise self-reliance. Follow our daily NDA current affairs and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Maj Sunil Chopra — Co-founder and defence-studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Defence, 18 August 2026. Facts cross-verified with independent sources.