PM Narendra Modi lays stone for Jhansi unit of BDL

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid the foundation stone for setting up a manufacturing unit of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), at Jhansi in the UP Defence Corridor.

The upcoming unit at Jhansi will be the sixth manufacturing unit of the company and the first one in north India, having its registered office in Hyderabad.

Prime Minister stated that the components being manufactured in Jhansi for Anti-Tank Guided Missiles will give a new identity to the region. These missiles will make our army stronger and our borders, more secure.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath said that all formalities related to lease agreement and registration of land allotted to BDL have been completed and the facility will come up at a brisk pace.

The occasion was graced by Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, MoS for Defence Ajay Bhatt, MoS, MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Member of Parliament, Jhansi Anurag Sharma, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat and Secretary (Defence) Ajay Kumar.

Chairman and Managing Director, BDL, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd), Director (Technical) N P Diwakar, Director (Production) P Radhakrishna, Director (Finance) N Srinivasulu, CVO Dr UpenderVennam, IPoS, Executive Director (marketing) Commodore TN Kaul (Retd), Executive Director (Kanchanbagh Unit and PSG) Commodore A Madhavrao (Retd) and other senior official were present.

Mishra said, "Jhansi unit of BDL will be manufacturing Propulsion System which will be used in all Anti-Tank Guided missiles and futuristic missiles manufactured by the company. This is an important step towards the backward integration plan being implemented to further strengthen the capability to deliver world class weapon systems to the customers. BDL proposes to invest up to Rs 400 Crore for various technologies at this location".

It is expected that MSMEs as ancillary units will also be established once the Jhansi unit becomes operational.

The company has a strong in-house R&D division with talent drawn from premier institutions. The Division is leveraging emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop state-of-the-art weapons for the Armed Forces. The Missile Development group set up within the in-house R & D Division is working on Next Generation Missile Programs. BDL has also signed MoUs / agreements with foreign OEMs and startups to develop weapons of next generation.

The company is expanding its foot prints in the global market by offering its products to friendly foreign nations in tune with the policies of the Government aimed towards 'ease of doing business' with foreign countries.The Company has already exported Torpedoes to a friendly foreign country. BDL has also received several leads from friendly countries for exports.