India's defence minister said Monday he felt "guilty" over what he described as the country's unacceptably heavy dependence on foreign military technology.

India imports 70 percent of its defence requirements, a figure that leaves it "far, far behind" fulfilling the dream of its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, for self-reliance in the defence sector, A.K. Antony told a seminar on aerospace technology.

"I feel sorry and sometimes guilty when we see the growth in self-reliance is very slow," the minister said.

"This is not suitable for us. Though I don't visualise a day when we can have zero imports, depending on other countries for 70 percent of our defence needs is not acceptable," he added.

While pledging greater government support for research and development, Antony said it was up to defence scientists to speed up the development and manufacture of new military hardware.

"We are taking too much time. Though your achievements are notable, you must speed up the delivery process to meet the growing needs of our armed forces," he said.

India, the biggest weapons buyer among emerging countries, has imported military hardware worth 28 billion dollars since 2000.

It has earmarked another 30 billion dollars to be spent by 2010, which includes 12 billion dollars on 126 fighter jets. Six global aeronautical giants are in the running to win the contract to supply the jets.