Solar Industries India to become first company to make key ammunition part in India

New Delhi: In a first, a private sector company is set to manufacture bi-modular charge systems (BMCS) in India – a critical part of artillery ammunition that is imported and for which the army has resorted to emergency purchases in times of crisis. Nagpur-based Solar Industries India (SIIL) is set to get the final government go ahead next month for a new plant to manufacture the charges. The company plans to invest Rs 800 crore in the project.

Solar Industries, which manufactures explosives and ammunition for military applications as well as the civil sector, is learnt to have got permissions and licences from the commerce ministry and is now set to clear the final hurdle with a goahead from the department of explosives expected next month.

"We are planning to set up a new factory that will be dedicated to the bi-modular charge systems and would have an initial capacity of 5 lakh rounds per year. This new facility will come up at Nagpur," Sartaj Singh, head - defence projects, SIIL, told ET.

In the past, the government has bought BMCS charges from abroad, the latest being an order placed with a French firm for seven lakh systems that cost over Rs 1,400 crore. SIIL says that once all permissions are in place, the factory would take about two years to start production.

India has been struggling since 1999 to set up a BMCS plant, with the first foundation stone for an OFB factory being laid in Nalanda. The project failed to take off after the technology partner, Denel, was blacklisted in 2005 on corruption charges. Another attempt to revive the project was made with Israel’s IMI but this company too was blacklisted in 2012 on graft charges.

BMCS is a vital artillery requirement — is the explosive that propels shells to distances of over 30 km. Each shell fired by an artillery gun requires three or more charges and with thousands being fired every year, the requirement is huge. By the army’s estimates, it requires over 10 lakh BMCS charges annually with the number expected to double next decade as many more artillery guns are being procured.

Solar Industries ended at Rs 3,153, down 3.72 per cent, on the NSE on Tuesday.