Defence Startups Urged to Move Beyond Prototypes

Hyderabad:India’s defence start-up ecosystem must move beyond developing prototypes and become part of the armed forces’ supply chain, experts said at the opening panel of the National Defence Innovation Conclave 2026 hosted by T‑Works in Hyderabad on Thursday. Military leaders, policymakers, startup founders and industry representatives discussed how India’s next generation of defence companies can move from innovation to deployment.

Speaking during The Start-up Revolution in Defence: Building India’s Strategic Advantage, Lt Gen. Neeraj Varshney said warfare was changing rapidly, driven by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics, additive manufacturing and quantum technologies. “Emerging technologies are evolving faster than traditional procurement systems,” he said, adding that the armed forces were looking for practical, deployable solutions rather than concepts.

Capt. Bala Praveen, founder of Hyderabad‑based Axial Aero and an iDEX winner, said the biggest challenge for startups was not building technology but surviving the long journey to military procurement. “Developing a product is only the beginning. Validation, certification, procurement and funding take years,” he said, stressing that defence startups required patient capital because returns typically came only after five to seven years.

Officials from Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and DRDO said recent policy changes had reduced entry barriers for startups and opened more opportunities for indigenous technologies. They urged startups to identify future operational requirements early instead of waiting for tenders, and said the aim was to help young companies become suppliers to larger defence manufacturers.

Speakers highlighted Telangana’s strengths in aerospace, electronics, advanced manufacturing, simulation, semiconductors and deep technology, saying Hyderabad’s ecosystem was well placed to contribute to India’s defence ambitions. They stressed that startups should work closely with the armed forces from the design stage so products were built around user requirements rather than technology alone.

Later discussions on manufacturing, procurement and innovation echoed similar concerns. Panellists called for quicker field trials, easier certification, stronger intellectual property protection, better collaboration between academia and industry, greater private investment and shorter procurement timelines. Together, they argued, these changes would help Telangana’s startups move beyond demonstrations and become long‑term suppliers of indigenous defence technologies.