Solar Industries' Rs 12,951-crore acquisition of South Africa's Omnia Holdings is much larger than most recent overseas bets by Indian defence companies. So much so, shares of Solar Industries crashed more than 12% intraday on Tuesday due to concerns over funding of this huge acquisition. But the importance of the deal lies elsewhere too. The deal comes as India's defence manufacturing industry has reached a scale that would have been difficult to imagine a decade ago. And the deal can be an inflection point for India's defence-industrial complex which can begin to get ambitious.
Domestic defence production touched Rs 1.78 lakh crore in FY2025-26, up from Rs 84,643 crore in FY2020-21, while exports reached a record Rs 38,424 crore. Indian companies are now beginning to use that expanding industrial base to enter foreign markets, form technology partnerships and, in a few cases, establish manufacturing operations overseas. Solar Industries' big bet could be a sign that Indian companies are acquiring enough scale, capacity and ambition to go global.
