Joint production of Kalashnikov rifles will bring Russia-India ties to new level: Modi

The launch of a Russian-Indian joint venture for manufacturing AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles in India will bring bilateral cooperation in military and technical area to a new level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.

Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited is a rifle-manufacturing facility in Korwa, Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. It is a joint venture between the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) on the Indian side, and Rosonboron Exports and Concern Kalashnikov on the Russian side.

The factory manufactures the AK-203 variant of the famous Kalashnikov family of rifles. The rifles will will strengthen India's security forces.

"As far as a joint venture on producing the AK-203 is concerned, it will enable us to bring our cooperation in the defence area beyond the narrow framework and create a reliable basis for developing our joint production," Modi said after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Modi also noted that the deal on establishing a joint venture with Russia on producing components for military equipment in India will encourage India's industrial development.

"President Putin and I have raised our relations to a new level of cooperation based on trust and partnership and we have managed to ensure both a quantitative and qualitative leap forward in our achievements," he was quoted as saying by Russia's official Tass news agency.

The OFB owns 50.5 per cent equity and Russian side the remaining 49.5 per cent in the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited. The JV is formed consequent to the Inter-governmental Agreement signed between India and Russia in February 2019.