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On Friday, October 24, 2025, Indian defence stocks surged sharply after the approval of capital acquisition proposals worth Rs. 79,000 crore for the Armed Forces by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which resulted in strong buying in the defence sector amid high confidence and increases in order flow to domestic manufacturers.
In early trading, the Nifty India Defence Index received a boost of over 1%, due to Bharat Dynamics, BEML, Cochin Shipyard, and Paras Defence and Space Technologies, all of which jumped by more than 2%.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Data Patterns (India), and Unimech Aerospace also added between 1-2%.
The DAC approvals encompass a wide range of systems and platforms for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, including the Nag Missile System (Tracked) Mk-II (NAMIS), Ground-Based Mobile ELINT Systems (GBMES), High Mobility Vehicles (HMVs) with cranes, Landing Platform Docks (LPDs), and Advanced Lightweight Torpedoes.
The majority of these projects are categorised as Buy. Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM), which requires at least 50% local content, thereby giving a considerable boost to Indian defence players.
Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) can expect meaningful gains from possible NAMIS orders worth around 2,000 crore.
Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Astra Microwave Products Ltd (Astra Micro) are likely to see gains from contracts for electronic warfare systems that include the Ground-Based Mobile ELINT system. BEML Ltd may benefit from the provision of High Mobility Vehicles for logistics and mobility support.
In the naval segment, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL), Cochin Shipyard (CSL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) are likely to benefit from massive orders of Landing Platform Dock (LPD), whose value is estimated to be Rs. 60,000 crore.
Bharat Dynamics could also gain further from contracts worth Rs. 500-Rs. 1,000 crore for Advanced Lightweight Torpedoes.
Antique Stock Broking maintains ‘Buy’ ratings on the following defence stocks with updated target prices:
PTC Industries: Target Price - Rs. 19,016
Bharat Electronics (BEL): Target Price - Rs. 454
Bharat Dynamics (BDL): Target Price - Rs. 1,951
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL): Target Price - Rs. 6,356
BEML Ltd: Target Price - Rs. 4,921
Solar Industries India: Target Price - Rs. 16,600
Zen Technologies: Target Price - Rs. 1,866
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL): Target Price - Rs. 3,856
So far in FY26, the DAC has granted Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for proposals worth Rs. 2.5 lakh crore, surpassing the Rs. 2.2 lakh crore approvals recorded in FY25.
Analysts see another year of double-digit growth in capital expenditure with a defence budget of Rs. 6.8 lakh crore for FY26, a 10% YoY increase. The Rs. 79,000-crore proposal pipeline is set to drive medium-term order momentum while building India's defence capabilities.
