(Reuters) – Indian industrialist Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure said on Tuesday it will invest 100 billion rupees ($1.19 billion) over the next ten years on a project to produce explosives, ammunition and small arms.
India, which counts the Tata Group, the Adani Group and Larsen & Toubro as major private defence manufacturers, has been pushing to increase domestic production of defence equipment, with exports hitting an all-time high of 210.83 billion rupees in the previous fiscal year.
Reliance Infra will set up the project in the western state of Maharashtra and is aiming for potential joint ventures with six global defence companies, the company said in an exchange filing, without giving any further details.
It currently operates JVs with French defence firms Dassault Aviation and Thales. The JVs export to countries such as France, and their products include engine doors for the Rafale fighter jet.
Reliance Infra, whose units already have licences from the government to make arms and ammunition, has exported defence equipment worth more than 10 billion rupees over an unspecified period.
($1 = 84.0460 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
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