Private defence suppliers seek review of rules limiting ammunition procurement to public sector
A private defence manufacturer said that if the MoD amended the existing rule to allow for open Request For Proposal (RFP) to be issued to both public and private sector, it would provide a big boost to the ammunition industry and allow private sector players, who had invested hugely to join the Make In India initiative, to supply ammunition to India's Armed Forces.
'We had a meeting where we have given presentation over the concern and the MoD assured that the proposal is under review by the MoD and Department of Military Affairs,' said a top official of a private defence manufacturer.
Adani Defence and Aerospace ammunition manufacturing facility in Kanpur, under Uttar Pradesh defence corridor, is already rolling out 150 million rounds of small calibre ammunition of — 5.56 mm (used majorly in Insas rifles), 7.62 mm (7.62x39 mm cartridge which is used in AK-47 and AK-203 rifles and 7.62x51 mm NATO round which is used in self-loading rifles (SLR) and machine guns), .338 mm (sniper rifles) and 9 mm (pistols).
'Adani already has capacity to produce 300 million rounds of small calibre ammunition and can fulfil all the requirement of defence forces with world-class quality and highly competitive costs. Having done full indigenisation, Adani Defence is also setting up the Propellant (explosive material) capacity which is otherwise imported into the country and it will reduce dependence on Europe and the U.S. It will ensure that India becomes completely self-reliant in ammunition and can overcome any global supply chain disruptions,' said Ashish Rajvanshi, CEO, Adani Defence & Aerospace, in a virtual interaction with journalists, who had been invited by the company, at its Kanpur ammunition complex.
He emphasised that the ammunition produced by Adani Defence & Aerospace is of the highest quality and NATO-certified, which allows them to export it to global markets, based on the approved list of countries by the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) and the MoD. The company is already exporting ammunition to four countries.
At the State police level, the company recently supplied ammunition to the U.P. Police, through bidding which was done on the Government e-Marketplace (GEM) portal, he said.
Recently, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had announced that the Ministry had declared 2025 as the 'Year of Reforms', aiming to transform the Armed Forces to become technologically advanced and combat-ready. He had also quoted that defence exports had surged from ₹686 crore in 2013–14 to ₹23,622 crore in 2024–25.
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This will provide legroom to iron out India's domestic concerns, de-link trade negotiations with its long-standing ties with Russia, and arrive at a sustainable long-term free trade agreement with the US down the line. Jayant Krishna is a senior fellow (non-resident) with the Chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, and an adjunct professor of business negotiation at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow. Ujjwal Krishna is an academic fellow with the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne, an adjunct research fellow with the Centre for Human Security and Social Change at La Trobe University, and a consultant at The Asia Foundation's Regional Governance Unit. Views are personal.
