Bharat Dynamics Ltd, the manufacturer of India's missiles, will set up a new missile unit in Nandgaon Peth in Amravati district of Maharastra. It will produce very short range air defence missiles at this unit, which will be its first outside Andhra Pradesh.
The Defence public sector undertaking has acquired 530 acres. It will invest Rs 250 crore initially. The new unit is expected to generate employment to about 1,000 personnel, said Maj. Gen. Ravi Khetarpal, Chairman and Managing Director.
The President, Ms Pratibha Devisingh Patil, laid the foundation stone for the unit recently.
According to Maj. Gen. Khetarpal, the company is on an expansion and is set to cross the Rs 1,000-crore turnover this financial year. It has recently bagged a order of Rs 14,000 crore to manufacture Akash, the surface to air missile for the Indian Army. This necessitated the expansion of its production facilities. The company also got a Rs 1,000-crore order to make the air version of Akash for the Indian Air Force.
At present, the two manufacturing units of BDL are in Hyderabad and neighbouring Medak district. It has already been offered land by the Andhra Pradesh Government in the districts of Anantapur and Chittoor and further expansion near Medak. The new production facilities are expected to become operational around 2015.
BDL produces the surface to surface Prithvi missiles, the anti-tank Nag missile and the three versions of India's strategic ballistic missile-Agni. In addition, it makes torpedoes for the Indian Navy at its facility in Visakhapatnam.