India, April 18 -- Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday unveiled a statue of Maharana Pratap and paid tribute to him in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.

Addressing the event, Singh highlighted the steps taken by the current government to make India self-reliant in the defence sector. He stated that defence exports from India have now reached a value of Rs 24,000 crore and expressed confidence that the exports will increase to Rs 50,000 crore by 2029-30.

"We are fully committed to making India self-reliant in defence production. When our government came to power in 2014, defence exports from India to other countries were around Rs 600 crore. Today, we have increased them to approximately Rs 24,000 crore. Our target is ...