New government defence company Advance Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) has got its first export order from a European firm for major sub assemblies of artillery guns.
Formed out of the erstwhile Ordinance Factory Board's Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), which is based in Jabalpur, the AWEIL's deal, though is not big as it is worth ₹6 crore only, it signifies interest global defence firms are showing in Indian entities.
Rajesh Chaudhary, Chief Managing Director of AWEIL,did not disclose the name of the European firm owing to “sensitivities attached to the deal”. However, Chaudhary, told BusinessLine “the sub assemblies are worth ₹6 crore and we expect to complete the supply this year itself.”
Business target
Many products of the AWEIL, manufacturing the Dhanush 155x45 mm guns like the Swedish Bofors, are in the assembly line and are of global standards, Chaudhary pointed out.
"We have a business target of ₹100 crore for 2022. Our focus is on exports, which is in line with the motto of Atmanirbhar Bharat. We are being approached by many customers, both from within and outside the country," he stated.
The AWEIL is among the seven corporatised versions of the OFBS dedicated to the country on October 15, 2021. Six of them reported provisional profits during the initial six months of their business, which ended on March 31, 2022. The defence ministry said towards the end of last month that AWEIL made a modest provisional profit of ₹4.84 crore for the same period, overcoming ₹398.5 crore loss calculated over an average of six months during the last three years.
Apart from the artillery and small guns, the defence PSU is also on the lookout for business in the non-defence category to utilise wide engineering capactiy.