New 30 mm ammunition plant in Nagpur to strengthen defence indigenisation

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a medium-calibre ammunition manufacturing plant set up by Solar Defence & Aerospace Limited in Nagpur to produce 30 mm ammunition for the Indian Army and the Navy.

The facility will strengthen domestic defence production and ensure supplies for the armed forces of medium-calibre ammunition, a critical requirement for several weapons, particularly for air defence and naval guns. He also visited the Pinaka Rocket manufacturing facility and flagged off the first tranche of Guided Pinaka rockets to Armenia.

Addressing the event on Sunday, Singh said self-reliance in defence manufacturing is directly linked to national security. “Our aim is to increase the participation of the private sector in defence manufacturing to 50 per cent or more in the coming years,” he said, adding that the private industry has an important role in manufacturing, research and development.

  “Domestic defence production has grown to Rs 1.51 lakh crore today. Over ₹33,000 crore has come from the private sector, reflecting how Indian industry is becoming an active partner in building an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Singh added.

The defence minister explained that India is moving towards indigenisation not only of major platforms, but also of components, subsystems and consumables such as ammunition. Even in areas where complete indigenous production is not yet possible, efforts are being made to ensure substantial domestic content.

Indigenisation efforts

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has updated five lists of domestic indigenisation efforts on the Srijan portal, which tracks items notified under the Positive Indigenisation Lists (PILs) of defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).

A total of five PILs covering 5,012 items have been notified for DPSUs. The four lists of 4,666 items were issued, of which 2,972 items (representing an import value of approx Rs 3,400 crore) have already been indigenised. 

According MoD’s media statement dated July 2024, about 36,000 defence items were offered to the industry for indigenisation by DPSUs and service headquarters, with over 12,300 items indigenised in the last three years. DPSUs have placed orders worth Rs 7,572 crore on domestic vendors.

Indian armed forces have made progress in indigenising ammunition requirements, with over 90 per cent of the ammunition categories used by the Army now being indigenised, including a range of small, medium and large calibre ammunition, artillery shells and rockets.