New Delhi: Bharat Forge Limited, the Pune-based engineering and defence conglomerate controlled by the Kalyani Group, has broken ground on a large-scale munitions manufacturing campus in Andhra Pradesh.
The facility, being set up through Agneyastra Energetics Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Forge's defence arm, Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited, will come up near Madakasira in Sri Sathya Sai district, a semi-arid tract of northern Andhra Pradesh that the state government has been actively promoting as a new hub for aerospace and defence investment.
The campus will span more than 1,000 acres, and the company said it plans to invest ₹1,500 crore over the next two to four years.
The project targets one of the more persistent gaps in India’s defence supply chain: energetics. The broad term covers propellants, explosives, rocket motors, pyrotechnic systems and high-energy materials – inputs that go into virtually every class of modern weapon, from small-arms ammunition to guided missiles.
Despite decades of indigenous production through state-owned entities such as the Ordnance Factory Board (now reorganized as seven defence public-sector undertakings) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, India still imports a significant share of its energetics requirements, leaving its armed forces exposed to supply disruptions and price volatility from overseas suppliers.
Agneyastra Energetics said the plant will be designed to manufacture advanced ammunition, propellants, rockets, and pyrotechnic systems for defence, aerospace, and space applications, and will be built to globally recognized safety and quality standards.
The company did not specify which systems it intends to supply first, or whether it has secured any initial contracts from the Ministry of Defence or the three services.
Baba Kalyani, the chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge, framed the investment in strategic terms. “India has a significant opportunity to emerge as a globally trusted source for advanced defence systems and critical materials,” he said at the groundbreaking event.
“Agneyastra Energetics is a step towards building a strong indigenous energetics ecosystem and globally competitive capabilities from India, for both domestic and international markets."
KSSL already manufactures the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) developed with DRDO, and has supplied 155mm artillery shells and other products to the Indian Army.
The Andhra Pradesh government has in recent years signed a series of memoranda with private defence firms, offering land at concessional rates and infrastructure support in dedicated aerospace and defence corridors.
