Defence & Aerospace: Why Smaller Companies Could Lead India's Next Manufacturing Growth Story

India's defence and aerospace sector is emerging as a major opportunity, supported by the government's focus on indigenisation, self-reliance and import substitution. While large public sector companies remain established players, a growing ecosystem of smaller private firms is supplying components and subsystems for advanced defence equipment. Nilesh Shah, MD & CEO, Envision Capital, explains why these smaller companies could offer stronger growth potential and why his portfolio is currently more focused on smaller defence and allied manufacturing businesses than on PSUs.