Gautam Adani, billionaire and chairman of Adani Group, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, … [+] Switzerland, in January.
The group controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani will invest more than 30 billion rupees ($362 million) to manufacture ammunitions and missiles, Adani Defence and Aerospace announced on Monday. The Adani Group is reacting to India’s ambition to become more self-reliant in defence manufacturing and export more arms.
On Monday, the group also unveiled what it described as South Asia’s largest ammunition manufacturing complex. Its two production facilities occupy more than 500 acres in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and employ more than 4,000 people.
The complex will manufacture an array of ammunition for India’s armed forces, paramilitary forces and police. It already produced 150 million rounds of small caliber ammunition estimated to be the equivalent of 25% of the country’s annual demand.
“Recent geopolitical events have reemphasized the need for a reliable supply from internal sources for ammunition in preparedness for a long-drawn conflict,” India’s Chief of Army Staff Manoj Pande said in a statement released by Adani Defence & Aerospace.
The company previously partnered with the Indian Navy to manufacture ten Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. They can operate for 36 hours and carry 450 kg payloads.
India, which is the world’s third largest military spender after the U.S. and China, has been trying to boost its self-reliance in defence manufacturing. Aside from fulfilling domestic defense needs, India also has an ambitious target to triple its defense exports to $5 billion by next year.
Adani has a net worth of $68 billion and is the second person on the India’s 100 Richest list published by Forbes Asia last October. He started in commodity trading and is chairman of the Adani Group, which had $32 billion in revenues last year. The group has interests in many businesses including ports, airports, power generation and transmission, and green energy.
