Indigenization is always the first priority. But even with that we won't be able to build the required number of ships without huge increases in budget. Naval budget doesn't necessarily need to remain small. With an expanding economy, we need to get defence budget up to 3% of GDP. And we can push up the naval budget from 15% to 20%. So with a 5 trillion dollar economy, we can have a defence budget of 150 billion USD, and a naval budget of 30 billion. Still doesn't match China, but 30 billion annually will ensure we have supremacy over the Indian ocean, accounting for the fact that China can only bring a fraction of its navy in a war to the Indian ocean.
@IndianHawk
We are a maritime nation and there should be no doubt in this regard.
As our economy grows so will our exports and influence in the region.Thanks to our geography in the IOR,no other navy can dominate us.Only having a huge economy won't help,if we are to become a great power then we must have absolute dominance over IOR and ability to project power anywhere on the planet.
As for defence budget,don't expect it to grow much.It has remained stagnant for a long time.
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All these things are understandable.
Looking at Chinese navy it's not ready for global operations.
Chinese have carriers now but no experience of long distance operations. They don't even have a proper naval fighter. Even our mig29k is far robust then their crashing su33 copy.
Most of their submarine are small and obsolete ssk. Even new ssk don't have to range to operate far from their shores. Only few SSN can come to Indian Ocean but their carries can't provide air cover with shitty j15 ( whatever is the name of crashing machine).
Less is said about the porkistan the better .
Chinese can't break 1st and 2nd island chain as of now. On top of there shortcomings the my have to face first USA navy and Japanese navy and Korean navy all of which have agis defense systems and now f35s with carrier borne f35 upcoming.
Then there are Taiwanese and Vietnam with kilos .
Then in Indian Ocean indian navy + USA navy again. And Chinsse don't have support bases anywhere. Even where they have peacetime visitation there is no guarantee of war time support . ( Sri Lanka won't host Chinese navy in ongoing war against India or USA. ).
Conclusion Chinese are atleast two decades away from breaking island chains controlled by usa and allies. And it might take another decade for them to be significant force in IOC.
In these 25-30 year window Indian navy can be completely indegenios and with a much bigger economy we can then build up mass numbers to take on china.
Govt knows it and so does navy. That is also why navy is getting indegenios faster than other forces because it can wait for Indian system to mature while being in service as there is no immediate war threat. IAF on the other hand needs war ready fighters now so does Indian army .