State vs. market in India: How (not) to integrate foreign contractors in the domestic defense-industrial sector

India has evolved not only as a rising power in Asia, but as the world’s largest arms importer. While facing some international threats, its defense-industrial policy is primarily driven by domestic opportunities and constraints. India’s enormous market size enables technology transfers, whereas domestic factors fundamentally exacerbate their effective utilization. Most significantly, attempts to liberalize the defense industries face the challenge of missing institutional prerequisites and political resistance against reforms. To date, the predominance of state institutions has prevailed. This conclusion is derived from combining data on general trends with the exploration of one recent process of fighter-aircraft acquisition.