India’s Defense Industrial Base: Personnel
Feb 28, 2008 15:18 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
India’s defense industry has some measure of transparency due to the country’s democratic structure and rule of law, but a powerful bureaucratic tradition contributes a parallel level of obfuscation that makes information less forthcoming than it is in countries like Australia, Britain, the USA, et. al.
Recently, the Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh offered a written reply in India’s Rajya Sabha (Upper Legislative House, lit. “Council of States”) to Shri Tapan Kumar Sen and Shri Mohammed Amin. They wanted to know how many employees worked in each of the main government departments, state-owned corporations, and other major entities associated with defense production in India. The answer was given on Feb 27/08…
Employees in India’s Defence Production Units and Allied Services, as on March 31/07:
| Defence Production Units | Permanent Employees | Contract/ contingency |
| Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) | 111,762 | 7,419 |
| Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) | 31,666 | 10,600 |
| Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) | 12,357 | 2,639 |
| BEML Ltd. | 11,748 | 1,703 |
| Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) | 11,300 | 313 |
| Mazagon Dock Ltd. (MDL) | 7,212 | 3,129 |
| Garden Reach Shipbuilders &Engineers Ltd. (GRSE) | 4,996 | 130 |
| Bharat Dynamics LTD. (BDL) |
2,742 |
487 |
| Goa Shipyard Ltd. (GSL) | 1,558 | 83 |
| Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd. (MIDHANI) | 1,281 | 408 |
| Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) | 815 | 1 |
| Dte. of Standardisation | 310 | 33 |
| Total | 197,747 | 26,945 |
Source: India’s Ministry of Defence.
Note that India’s DRDO, which has been roundly criticized for its approach to weapons development and its performance, is a research & development body. That’s why it cannot be found in this list, despite its importance as a contributor to India’s defense industry structure.
