Background

On October 11, ORF America hosted a closed-door roundtable with Dr. Anit Mukherjee discussing Indian military and defense policy reforms with stakeholders from the U.S. government, academia, think tanks, media, and the private sector in Washington D.C. Dr. Mukherjee is the Deputy Head of Graduate Studies and an Associate Professor at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS-NTU) in Singapore. He is also the author of The Absent Dialogue: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Military in India (Oxford University Press) and a former Indian Army officer. He obtained his PhD from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.

Summary

The roundtable featured the distribution of a joint report titled “Momentous Changes: Defense Reforms, Military Transformation, and India’s New Strategic Posture” published by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi and RSIS-NTU in Singapore. The report captures various debates within India about recent changes in military strategy and defense policy after the 2020 India-China clashes along the Line of Actual control.  

These ongoing reforms include enhancing India’s military posture in its eastern frontiers, reforming the Defense Ministry, fostering jointness through theater commands, and exploiting opportunities for defense diplomacy with external partners. The Indian defense private sector is also expanding due to improvements in domestic manufacturing and technology. Though challenges remain like the lack of civilian expertise in defense matters, unclear procurement policies, vague command and control structures, and long-standing security threats from Pakistan and the western border. Participants also discussed other strategic challenges pertaining to the Indian military like professional education, recruitment, emerging technology, and the India-Russia defense relationship.

Overall, these opportunities and challenges create greater room for dialogue, coordination and collaboration with the U.S., and like-minded partners. Recent developments like the U.S.-India state visit in June 2023, and the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), indicate a positive direction for U.S.-India military ties and strategic cooperation.

The ORF-RSIS joint report is available here.