JV Company Will Manufacture for Domestic and Export Customers
Diversified Indian conglomerate Punj Lloyd and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) have established a joint venture company – Punj Lloyd Raksha Systems (PLR) – to manufacture small arms at Malanpur in Madhya Pradesh. The facility, which will manufacture for the Indian armed forces and for export customers, will be the first privately-owned small arms manufacturing plant in India.
“This is the first opportunity for the country to get its own ‘Made in India’ small arms. The need of the hour is to replace the country’s defence weapons with sophisticated and high precision products and Punj Lloyd Raksha Systems is the answer to the country’s immediate need,” Atul Punj, Chairman of Punj Lloyd, stated. “These are tried and tested, battle-proven products already being used within the country.”
“Israel’s Ministry of Defence fully and wholeheartedly supports this cooperation and will continue to support the transfer of technology and information also in the future, for the betterment of improved advanced tools. Israel and India consider their defence industry cooperation as a monumental step forward, towards a future of immense potential,” Michel Ben-Baruch, the Head of SIBAT – the Israeli Ministry of Defence’s International Defence Cooperation Directorate – who was present at the launch, commented.
Echoing these comments, Israel’s Ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, pointed out that this cooperation “takes up Israeli President Rivlin’s call for Israel to ‘Make in India, Make with India.’”