‘INDIA WILL BECOME BIG EXPORTER OF MILITARY HARDWARE IN 15 YEARS’
In the next 10-15 years, India will become one of the largest exporters of military hardware. It may not be highly sophisticated stuff, but will include equipment like land systems, artillery, ammunition, missiles; we will do it cheaper than anybody else. The Kalyani Group will
be a big part of this. BABA KALYANI ( pictured), Kalyani Group chief, tells Ajai Shukla
The chief of Kalyani Group, BABA KALYANI, bets highly on defence manufacture. He tells Ajai Shukla that in the next 10-15 years, India will become one of the largest exporters of military hardware. It may not be fighters or highly sophisticated stuff, but will include equipment like land systems, artillery, ammunition, missiles. Edited excerpts: Large metals giants, like Krupp in Germany, have traditionally spearheaded the development of national defence industries. Is the Kalyani Group riding on such capabilities? We are the Krupp of India. In fact, two years ago, we beat ThyssenKrupp in their own backyard to become the world’s biggest supplier of metallurgical components. Before 2005, we were not even in this business. Today, we have 60 per cent of the global market in high performance metallurgical components.
We are now global leaders in metallurgy. We make our steel, we forge it, we machine it, we heat treat it. Very few companies in the world can match us in manufacturing demanding products like gun barrels. Companies come to us from Europe for design, engineering, testing and validation of metallurgical components. Artillery systems are your new thrust. What are the opportunities here? The Indian army needs artillery systems. The programme for 1,500 towed guns alone will be worth ~25,00030,000 crore, at ~15-16 crore per gun. The army’s website projects a requirement for 4,000 different guns – ultralight, self-propelled, towed and others. This is an ~45,000-50,000-crore opportunity, of which we can snap up half, based on our capability and cost competitiveness. How much revenue would this generate on an annual basis? About ~2,000 crore annually, counting replacement parts and maintenance. How big is the Kalyani Group in defence today? This year we will do ~500 crore of defence business. This is basically components like wheels for tanks, armoured vehicle components and ammunition shells to Europe. But, once we are asked to manufacture, say 1,000 Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS), our defence turnover will rise quickly. Is it wise to put so many eggs in the ATAGS basket? The ATAGS team has created a new benchmark in 155-millimetre artillery. For decades, no similar gun has been designed anywhere in the world. This is the first gun in 30 years designed afresh, from scratch. This will be a worldbeater. Next year it will be in every Jane’s magazine. Nobody has a gun like this. With a range of 45-plus kilometres, it’s an amazing weapon. You are also developing a titanium-based ultra-light howitzer (ULH). But the army has already bought these guns from abroad. The army has bought 145 M777 guns from BAE Systems. By March 2018, our indigenous ULH will be ready to compete with that gun. The army needs many more. So the Kalyani Group is betting big on defence? In the next 10-15 years, India will become one of the largest exporters of military hardware. It may not be fighters or highly sophisticated stuff, but will include equipment like land systems, artillery, ammunition, missiles, bombs; we will master these technologies quickly, and do it cheaper than anybody else. The Kalyani Group will be a big part of this.