Defence stocks soar as India emerges victor in aerial clash as part of Operation Sindoor

Indian defence stocks witnessed a bullish explosion, led by Cochin Shipyard, GRSE, Bharat Dynamics, and IdeaForge in the wake of Operation Sindoor. These stocks gained up to 38 per cent over the week, propelling the Nifty India Defence Index to rise by a sharp 10 per cent in just three days.

The high-voltage aerial conflict part of India’s Operation Sindoor involved precision airstrikes on Pakistani targets. Indian fighter jets launched a 23-minute operation, employing home-grown loitering munitions to dismantle Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied air defence systems.

Despite Pakistani claims of having destroyed multiple Indian assets, including the prized S-400 system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi debunked the propaganda by posing in front of the very same S-400 battery undamaged at the Adampur air base.

Interestingly, Shenzhen-listed Chinese defence manufacturers supplying Pakistan suffered severe losses. Avic Chengdu Aircraft Co., which makes the J-10C fighters deployed by Islamabad, plummeted over 9 per cent. Zhuzhou Hongda Electronics Corp, maker of PL-15 air-to-air missiles, fell 10 per cent. Other casualties included China Aerospace Times Electronics (down 7 per cent), Bright Laser Technologies, and AVIC Aircraftall showing declines between 5 and 10 per cent.

Analysts attribute this uproar in market performance of defence stocks to India’s demonstrable military edge and technological self-reliance.

The Indian government has set an ambitious target to raise defence exports from the current record of approximately Rs 24,000 crore in FY25 to Rs 50,000 crore by 2029. “The target is to make India a developed nation and the world’s largest defence exporter by 2047,” said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. “To achieve this goal, we must develop global trust regarding the quality of our defence equipment.