Defense Companies’ Stocks Rally After India Approves $13 Billion Weapons Package

A day after the Indian Ministry of Defense cleared proposals worth $13 billion, shares of local arms manufacturers rose as much as 8.6 per cent Monday.

According to the Economic Times, BEML was up 5.65 per cent, Pipavav Defense & Offshore Engineering gained 4.76 per cent, BEL moved 5.62 per cent higher, L&T rose 0.74 per cent and BHEL was 3.44 per cent higher. 

These companies stand to benefit from major projects that were cleared by the Defense Acquisition Council’s on Saturday including proposals to build six submarines equipped with an air-independent propulsion and a land-attack missile, buy BMP-2 fighting vehicles, anti-tank guided missile systems for the Army and 12 upgraded Dornier surveillance aircraft for the Navy.

The DAC plans to boost the domestic manufacturing industry with the latest projects. India currently imports up to 70 per cent of its military hardware from Russia, Israel, US and other European countries.