India has emerged as the third-largest arms exporter to Europe, driven by the rising demand for defence goods under the "Rearm Europe" initiative and backed by an expanding domestic manufacturing sector, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Friday.

"Our exports have reached an all-time high of Rs 38,424 crore, which is about 3.6 billion euros, and I was reading a Bloomberg report yesterday, which said that suddenly, over the last year, India became the third-largest exporter of arms to Europe, mainly because of the Rearm Europe initiative. As a result, a lot of standard ammunition of different types, artillery shells, and large- and small-calibre ammunition started getting exported to Europe in significant numbers," Rajesh Kumar Singh told journalists.