Munitions India’s export orders swell to ₹6,000 cr

Ammunitions maker Munitions India Ltd says its products are in great demand abroad. It has export orders worth ₹6,000 crore, to be supplied over the next three years.

The Puneheadquartered company, which was formed in November 2021 when the Ordnance Factory Board was reorganised into seven Defence PSUs, produces bullets, shells, mortars, rockets and hand grenades from its 12 manufacturing units.

“Everybody wants bombs,” Gnaneshwar Tyagi, Chief General Manager, High Energy Projectile Factory, MIL, told businessline, adding that among the leading overseas customers are the UAE, Vietnam “and one European country” which he did not wish to name.

MIL achieved a turnover of ₹4,200 crore in 202223, which is expected to touch ₹7,000 crore in the current financial year and to ₹10,000 crore in the next, Tyagi said.

“They (MIL) are sitting on a gold mine,” said PS Unni Raj, Joint Director, Export Promotion Cell, Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence. Tyagi and Raj participated in the ‘International Engineering Sourcing Show’ organised in Coimbatore by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC).

Raj said India’s exports of defence products would cross ₹20,000 crore in 202324 to touch ₹25,000 crore in 202425, and ₹35,000 crore in the following year. A presentation by Sanjeev Kumar Joshi, Deputy DEO, Brahmos Aerospace, showed that Defence exports in 2013 were ₹1,050 crore. Joshi, who was present at the EEPC meet, told businessline that India’s Brahmos missiles were in demand all over the world. It was the only cruise missile that was supersonic throughout its flight; others have subsonic durations , when they can be intercepted. While the Phillipines has been in the news lately as a buyer of Brahmos missiles, countries in the MENA region, Latin America and SouthEast Asia were also interested in buying the missile.

India’s importstoexports ratio for defence products has fallen. Imports increased from ₹41,198 crore in 201314 to ₹50,061 crore in 202122, but exports rose from ₹1,153 crore to ₹12,815 crore, in the same period.

Tyagi said MIL would start producing the 125mm ‘mango’ tank shells, which are capable of piercing a 600mmthick tank skin. The Mango shells are produced in India under licence from Russian armament major Techmash. MIL would produce 6,000 units at its plant in Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu, he said.

MIL achieved a turnover of ₹4,200 crore in 202223, which is expected to touch ₹7,000 crore this financial year