India's defence ministry did not respond to Reuters questions. The U.S. Congress in 2019 banned the Pentagon from buying or using drones and components made in China. India has set aside 1.6 billion rupees ($19.77 billion) for military modernisation in 2023-24, of which 75% is reserved for domestic industry. But the ban on Chinese parts has raised the cost of making military drones locally by forcing manufacturers to source components elsewhere, government and industry experts said. Sameer Joshi, founder of Bengaluru-based NewSpace Research and Technologies, a supplier of small drones for India's military, said 70% of goods in the supply chain were made in China.

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Persons: Narendra Modi, Sameer Joshi, Joshi, Dilip, ADE, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narang, Krishn Kaushik, Joe Cash, David Crawshaw, YP Rajesh Organizations: Reuters, U.S, Congress, Pentagon, Research, Technologies, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies, Finance, YP, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India, China, Delhi, cyberattacks, Beijing, Bengaluru, Polish