Billionaire Adani’s firm to make ammo for Indian-made Kalashnikovs
The defense firm owned by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has signed an agreement with Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) to supply locally made ammunition for AK-203 assault rifles.
Under the deal, Adani Defence will supply 7.62 mm ammunition to IRRPL, which is making the Russian-designed rifles for the Indian armed forces at a facility in Korwa in the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
“Adani Defence will supply the small-caliber ammunition required for the AK-203 programme for five years, providing an Indian source of supply,” reports cited the company as saying. The ammunition will be made at Adani Defence’s facility in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where the company already produces small-caliber rounds.
The financial terms of the deal, the number of rounds to be supplied and the delivery schedule were not disclosed.
Gautam Adani became Asia’s richest man in June, ahead of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. He hails from Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and has businesses in energy, transport, infrastructure, defense, and minerals and mining. A US court recently dismissed a criminal case against Adani brought by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden.
IRRPL was established in 2019 under an intergovernmental agreement between India and Russia. Its Indian shareholders are state-owned Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited and Munitions India Limited, while Russia is represented by Kalashnikov Concern and state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.
India’s Defense Ministry signed a contract with the venture in December 2021 for 601,427 AK-203 rifles, valued at 51.2 billion rupees (about $542 million).
The ammunition deal comes as IRRPL is increasingly localizing the rifle’s components, in line with Modi’s Make-in-India initiative. The company recently manufactured and test-fired its first AK-203 made entirely from Indian components and input materials, named ‘Sher’. Around 70,000 AK-203s have so far been delivered from the Korwa plant to Indian security forces, according to the Times of India.
