Will make 1.5 lakh rifles in 3 yrs for Indian forces, says NIBE CMD

In his speeech, Fadnavis said Maharashtra and especially Pune has emerged as a defence manufacturing cluster of national significance. “Behind India’s rise as a major manufacturer and its rising strategic strength is the large number of innovative defence manufacturers who are working hard,” Fadnavis said.

During interaction with the media on the sidelines of the event, when asked about the products of the small arms facility, Ganesh Nibe said, “I can’t give the name of the specific small arm we will be manufacturing because of the nature of the programme. But I can tell you we will be manufacturing 1.5 lakh units of the specific gun. These 1.5 lakh units are of one single make of the gun and this manufacturing will be done over a period of three years. These will be rifles and these will be supplied to Indian Armed forces and other Indian users. In this journey we realised that there is a shortage of ammunition. So now we are launching an ammunition plant which will fulfill the ‘Make in India’ mandate 100 per cent.”

Nibe added, “We have entered into a joint venture with global arms manufacturer Sig Sauer, which will result in a facility at Shirdi where we will have capability of manufacturing all types of guns. There will also be training and testing facilities for the small arms. Where personnel from all three services and other security forces can train. The plant we are setting up at Shirdi jointly with Sig Sauer is spread over five lakh square feet.”

When asked about the missile facility, Nibe said, “We are manufacturing subsystems of the Pinaka missile, canisters for Brahmos missiles and medium range surface-to-air missiles. We are also making the bridging systems at this facility.” When asked how the company is planning to get investments for these varied projects, Nibe said, “My company is a public limited company. Currently we are a BSE listed company and we will be listed on NSE soon. Fundraising is not a challenge for us. We plan to raise Rs 5,000 crore for the next five years. We plan to do this from trusted investors within India as per BSE and SEBI guidelines. This year we plan to raise Rs 1,000 crore.