India's Punj Lloyd, Israel's IWI Inaugurate Small Arms Manufacturing Plant In India

India’s Punj Lloyd and its JV Partner Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), today has inaugurated the country’s first private-sector small arms manufacturing plant at Malanpur in Madhya Pradesh.

The joint venture company, Punj Lloyd Raksha Systems (PLR) will be manufacturing small arms for the Indian Defence Forces and also for export, Israel Weapon Industries reported Thursday.

The IWI manufactures weaposn such as TAVOR Assault Rifles, three calibre X95 (Assault Rifle & SMG), NEGEV Light Machine Guns, GALIL ACE Assault Rifles, GALIL SNIPER Semi-Automatic Rifle, UZI SMG and JERICHO pistols.

Punj Lloyd Chairman Atul Punj said, “It is the first time in India that we are coming together with the complete technology to manufacture these products as ‘Made in India’.”

Present on the occasion, Michel Ben-Baruch, Head of SIBAT, Israel Ministry of Defence said,“Israel's Ministry of Defense 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 defense industry cooperation as a monumental step forward, towards a future of immense potential.  

Punj Lloyd brings strong capabilities in Defence across Land Systems, Aerospace, Small Arms and Homeland Security.

The objective is to develop genuine force multipliers in providing a decisive edge to the Indian Armed Forces and building a robust indigenous defence industrial base. Some of the Group’s clients in Defence include Ordnance Factory Board, Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur, HAL, DLW, AHPL, Fincantieri, SAAB, Toshiba, Metso, Inox Wind among others.