Post Operation Sindoor, defence MSMEs have gained traction as government and international orders pour in. However, industry players flag that MSME representation on global front, visibility of defence exports, timeline delays, gestation, supply chain issues and long cash flow as key challenges encountered by MSMEs.

Speaking about hurdles and struggles, Commander LSS Narendra (Retd), COO & Promoter, C2C Advanced Systems, said: “Defence equipment cannot be sold on Zomato.”  “MSMEs should be resilient, and have a niche,” he added.  

He was speaking at a panel discussion on ‘MSMEs: Call to Arms (Supplying to Defence)’. He highlighted the absence of MSME representation, stressing that the visibility in defence exports is given to public sector.

Other speakers were Lt Col VS Velan (Retd), CEO, Elena Geo; Navneet Singh, CEO, Kepler Aero; and Priyanka Singhal, Founder, CEO, Ammunic Systems. The panel discussion was moderated by Venkatesha Babu, Resident Editor, businessline.  

For any equipment, you have to follow that standard what is created for this country, Velan stressed. “We also have standardisation agencies. These agencies should pick up different standardisation and give equivalence of it, like so and so thing is a standard, equivalent of it in Europe is so and so. Automatically, when you publish a standard, then the other agencies will start accepting it,” said Velan. He also added that exploration has to be made extensively. 

challenges

Warfare has been changing for a while now, said Navneet Singh, CEO, Kepler Aero, emphasising supply chain issues that MSMEs are currently facing. He said that countries are now stressing for domestic presence and manufacturing capabilities.  

Pertaining to global scaling, he said: “Place domestic order first, domestic use case itself becomes a export advertisement.” 

Meanwhile, Priyanka Singhal, Founder, CEO, Ammunic Systems, expressed on the lack of awareness and visibility on the manufacturing front. “We have a long way to go because there is a defence export promotion cell, which is helping or maybe we have a lot of policies in that way, but I still feel we are lacking because we need a kind of a dedicated defence, some kind of a project formulation and a facilitation team, so that we have experts from the army, from the industry and from the technical background, who can actually analyse that which country wants what kind of a product and document it.”  

Priyanka highlighted the need for an online digital portal and called for a single window where MSMEs can be hand-holded in their innovation. 

“Perseverance is a major point that, you know, as part of an MSME, especially in this sector. We have to plan ahead, we have to take contingency for supply chain disruptions. 

“We, for example, plan three separate vendors, three separate supply chains. So, these are the ways that we can mitigate around what is already happening,” Navneet Singh of Kepler added. 

Published on June 25, 2025