India's defence ecosystem now relies on private startups, says Garuda Aerospace CEO Agnishwar Jayaprakash
India's defence ecosystem now depends on private startups because they deliver technology quickly and build specialised products through methods larger organisations are slower to adopt, according to Agnishwar Jayaprakash, founder and chief executive of Garuda Aerospace.
He was speaking about his company's collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited, an agreement that places the defence PSU as primary bidder with Garuda as its technology partner.
What each partner brings
Jayaprakash said the collaboration has strategic value because it links BEL's defence electronics knowledge, systems integration skills and institutional relationships with Garuda's drone development and production capability. Structuring it with BEL as the bidder, he said, lets Garuda continue its own indigenous programmes while working through an established public-sector partner.
The two will jointly pursue opportunities involving indigenous unmanned aerial systems for the Indian defence forces, central police organisations and specialised security agencies. The stated aim is platforms that meet mission requirements for surveillance, situational awareness and security operations, combining platform capability, electronics integration and deployment readiness.
The self-reliance argument
Jayaprakash framed the partnership as supporting India's defence manufacturing self-reliance objectives, building domestic capability across design, integration, production and deployment of advanced unmanned systems. Arrangements of this kind, he argued, reduce import dependence while demonstrating that public-sector and private-sector companies can work together to build indigenous defence production.
Garuda's position
He described Garuda's business model as resting on scale, diversification and local technology development. Publicly available figures put the company at more than 30 drone models across a range of industries, with a large operating fleet and expanding production facilities. That base, combined with the BEL partnership, is what he said prepares the company for larger operations requiring quick response and systems integration.
On the technology side, Jayaprakash pointed to Garuda's published work on surveillance systems, industrial imaging, inspection, mapping and security applications, and to research into autonomous systems with greater payload capacity and improved data collection.
Why startups, and why not alone
Startups can build specialised defence solutions and compress product development timelines, Jayaprakash said, but the sector will develop through both sides working together — startups introducing new platforms, larger companies contributing systems integration, product development and commercial scale. The Garuda-BEL arrangement, he said, follows exactly that pattern.