BEL

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Larsen and Toubro Ltd LART.NS:

• LARSEN AND TOUBRO LTD - CONSORTIUM TO PARTICIPATE IN EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR AMCA

• LARSEN AND TOUBRO - FORMS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH BEL FOR FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Source text: ID:nBSE7VSfgk

Further company coverage: LART.NS

(([email protected];))

** Shares of India's Avantel AVAN.NS rise 1.44% to 179.4 rupees

** The communication systems manufacturer receives 125.1 million rupees ($1.42 million) order from Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS to supply satellite communication products

** Order to be executed by March 2026

** YTD, Avantel shares up ~23%

($1 = 88.1375 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

** Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS rises as much as 3.4% to two-month high of 416.65 rupees; last up 2.5%

** Stock among top two pct gainers on Nifty 50 index .NSEI

** Defence public sector undertaking secures orders worth 7.12 bln rupees (~$81 mln) in September so far

** Major orders for IT infra, cyber security solution, electronic support measures (ESM) systems, blockchain solution platform, communication equipment

** YTD, BAJE gains 37.4%, outpacing NSEI's 7.1% rise

($1 = 87.7700 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• SECURES ORDERS WORTH 7.12 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSEtdX48

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];;))

Aug 21 (Reuters) - Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd PRAF.NS:

• RECEIVES ORDER FROM BHARAT ELECTRONICS WORTH 453.2 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE5gV1P2

Further company coverage: PRAF.NS

(([email protected];;))

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Centum Electronics Ltd CENT.NS:

• CENTUM ELECTRONICS LTD - ENTERS MOU WITH BHARAT ELECTRONICS

• CENTUM ELECTRONICS LTD - MOU FOCUSES ON ELECTRONIC WARFARE AND RADAR SYSTEMS

Source text: ID:nBSE4CTq3C

Further company coverage: CENT.NS

(([email protected];))

Adds details in paragraphs 2-3, background in paragraphs 4-7

Aug 12 (Reuters) - India's space regulator has picked a consortium led by Google-backed startup PixxelSpace to build a commercial home-grown constellation of earth observation satellites, with an investment of more than 12 billion rupees (nearly $137 million) over the next five years, it said on Tuesday.

The consortium, comprising local space tech firms Piersight Space, Satsure Analytics India and Dhruva Space, will design, build, and operate the satellites, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) said.

The PixxelSpace-led consortium won the project, outbidding Indian defence equipment makers Astra Microwave ASTM.NS and Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS.

The Indian government wants to reduce its dependence on foreign systems, including the widely used U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), and says its regional navigation satellite system, called NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), provides more accurate domestic navigation and that its use would benefit the economy.

This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's drive for self-reliance, which has also expanded the use of NavIC.

India has also been pushing tech giants to make smartphones compatible with its home-grown navigation system within months, worrying the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Apple.

($1 = 87.6790 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

(([email protected]; 8800437922;))

** Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS drops as much as 2.9% to 378 rupees; last down ~1%

** Electronic equipment maker posts Q1 profit ahead of analysts' estimate; revenue missed expectations

** Order book at 748.59 bln rupees ($8.62 bln) as of July 1, down 2% y/y, per Nomura

** Rev 9% below Nomura's estimates

** Brokerage cuts FY26 sales estimates by 1% to reflect slower-than-anticipated orders execution rate; downgrades to "neutral"

** BAJE gains ~44% in H1 2025, which Nomura says was 'priced to perfection'

** Stock rated "buy" on avg; median PT at 418.5 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, BAJE up ~32%

($1 = 86.8100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +918447554364;))

July 28 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• BHARAT ELECTRONICS Q1 CONSOL NET PROFIT 9.7 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 8.37 BILLION RUPEES

• BHARAT ELECTRONICS Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 44.4 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 47.14 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];;))

July 25 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• BEL - GETS ORDER WORTH 16.40 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];;))

July 24 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• GETS ORDER WORTH 5.63 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];;))

July 21 (Reuters) - Sahana System Ltd SAHT.NS:

• EMPANELED AS DESIGN SERVICE PROVIDER FOR BEL

Source text: ID:nNSE88wp2S

Further company coverage: SAHT.NS

(([email protected];;))

July 8 (Reuters) -

• INDIAN NAVY SIGNS CONTRACT WITH BEL FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF NMDA PROJECT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];;))

** Bharat Electronics (BEL) BAJE.NS climbs 3% to 434.15 rupees

** Defence equipment maker wins orders worth 5.28 bln rupees ($61.7 mln) for radars, communication equipment and jammers among others

** Stock rated "buy" on avg; median PT is 418 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** BAJE extends YTD gains to 48%

($1 = 85.5970 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

** Shares of Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS jump 2.5% to a record high of 418 rupees

** Stock top gainer on the Nifty 50 index .NSEI, which is down 0.7%

** Defence co secures orders worth 5.85 bln rupees ($67.4 mln)

** Orders include manufacturing fire control systems, communication equipment, and jammers

** Stock up 39% so far in 2025 vs a 5.4% rise in Nifty 50

($1 = 86.8080 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

June 20 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• GOT ORDER WORTH 5.85 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nnAZN4093FZ

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];;))

June 6 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• BHARAT ELECTRONICS LTD - BEL, TATA ELECTRONICS INK MOU FOR SELF-RELIANCE IN ELECTRONICS

• BEL - MOU FOR DEVELOPMENT OF INDIGENOUS ELECTRONICS AND SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS

Source text: ID:nBSE7NjqRt

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];))

June 5 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• BEL - GETS ORDER WORTH 23.23 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nnAZN3XXM3P

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];))

June 4 (Reuters) - Bharat Electronics Ltd BAJE.NS:

• BHARAT ELECTRONICS LTD - BEL RECEIVES ORDERS WORTH 5.37 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE9C4l7m

Further company coverage: BAJE.NS

(([email protected];))

** India's Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS jumps 23.2% in May, set for its best monthly gain in a year

** Stock also set for its eighth straight week of gains

** Gains in-line with other defence stocks which rose amid India-Pakistan border clash and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for indigenous defence equipment

** BAJE's gains also boosted by its upbeat fourth-quarter results which highlighted its strong order pipeline

** BAJE's inclusion in BSE Sensex .BSESN, effective June 23, also drove stock higher

** Stock extends YTD gains to 32%

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Repeats story from Tuesday morning in Asia

By Devjyot Ghoshal, Ariba Shahid, Shivam Patel

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, May 27 (Reuters) - A little after 8:00 pm on May 8, red flares streaked through the night sky over the northern Indian city of Jammu as its air-defence systems opened fire on drones from neighbouring Pakistan.

The Indian and Pakistani militaries have deployed high-end fighter jets, conventional missiles and artillery during decades of clashes, but the four days of fighting in May marked the first time New Delhi and Islamabad utilized unmanned aerial vehicles at scale against each other.

The fighting halted after the U.S. announced it brokered a ceasefire but the South Asian powers, which spent more than $96 billion on defence last year, are now locked in a drones arms race, according to Reuters' interviews with 15 people, including security officials, industry executives and analysts in the two countries.

Two of them said they expect increased use of UAVs by the nuclear-armed neighbours because small-scale drone attacks can strike targets without risking personnel or provoking uncontrollable escalation.

India plans to invest heavily in local industry and could spend as much as $470 million on UAVs over the next 12 to 24 months, roughly three times pre-conflict levels, said Smit Shah of Drone Federation India, which represents over 550 companies and regularly interacts with the government.

The previously unreported forecast, which came as India this month approved roughly $4.6 billion in emergency military procurement funds, was corroborated by two other industry executives. The Indian military plans to use some of that additional funding on combat and surveillance drones, according to two Indian officials familiar with the matter.

Defence procurement in India tends to involve years of bureaucratic processes but officials are now calling drone makers in for trials and demonstrations at an unprecedented pace, said Vishal Saxena, a vice president at Indian UAV firm ideaForge Technology IDEF.NS.

The Pakistan Air Force, meanwhile, is pushing to acquire more UAVs as it seeks to avoid risking its high-end aircraft, said a Pakistani source familiar with the matter.

Pakistan and India both deployed cutting-edge generation 4.5 fighter jets during the latest clashes but cash-strapped Islamabad only has about 20 high-end Chinese-made J-10 fighters compared to the three dozen Rafales that Delhi can muster.

Pakistan is likely to build on existing relationships to intensify collaboration with China and Turkey to advance domestic drone research and production capabilities, said Oishee Majumdar of defence intelligence firm Janes.

Islamabad is relying on a collaboration between Pakistan's National Aerospace Science and Technology Park and Turkish defence contractor Baykar that locally assembles the YIHA-III drone, the Pakistani source said, adding a unit could be produced domestically in between two to three days.

Pakistan's military declined to respond to Reuters' questions. The Indian defence ministry and Baykar did not return requests for comment.

India and Pakistan "appear to view drone strikes as a way to apply military pressure without immediately provoking large-scale escalation," said King's College London political scientist Walter Ladwig III.

"UAVs allow leaders to demonstrate resolve, achieve visible effects, and manage domestic expectations — all without exposing expensive aircraft or pilots to danger," he added.

But such skirmishes are not entirely risk-free, and Ladwig noted that countries could also send UAVs to attack contested or densely populated areas where they might not previously have used manned platforms.

DRONE SWARMS AND VINTAGE GUNS

The fighting in May, which was the fiercest in this century between the neighbours, came after an April 22 militant attack in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists.

Delhi blamed the killings on "terrorists" backed by Islamabad, which denied the charge. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed revenge and Delhi on May 7 launched air strikes on what it described as "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan.

The next night, Pakistan sent hordes of drones along a 1,700-kilometer (772-mile) front with India, with between 300 and 400 of them pushing in along 36 locations to probe Indian air defences, Indian officials have said.

Pakistan depended on Turkish-origin YIHA-III and Asisguard Songar drones, as well as the Shahpar-II UAV produced domestically by the state-owned Global Industrial & Defence Solutions conglomerate, according to two Pakistani sources.

But much of this drone deployment was cut down by Cold War-era Indian anti-aircraft guns that were rigged to modern military radar and communication networks developed by state-run Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS, according to two Indian officials.

A Pakistan source denied that large numbers of its drones were shot down on May 8, but India did not appear to sustain significant damage from that drone raid.

India's use of the anti-aircraft guns, which had not been designed for anti-drone-warfare, turned out to be surprisingly effective, said retired Indian Brig. Anshuman Narang, now an UAV expert at Delhi's Centre for Joint Warfare Studies.

"Ten times better than what I'd expected," he said.

India also sent Israeli HAROP, Polish WARMATE and domestically-produced UAVs into Pakistani airspace, according to one Indian and two Pakistan sources. Some of them were also used for precision attacks on what two Indian officials described as military and militant infrastructure.

The two Pakistani security sources confirmed that India deployed a large number of the HAROPs - a long-range loitering munition drone manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. Such UAVs, also known as suicide drones, stay over a target before crashing down and detonating on impact.

Pakistan set up decoy radars in some areas to draw in the HAROPs, or waited for their flight time to come towards its end, so that they fell below 3,000 feet and could be shot down, a third Pakistani source said.

Both sides claim to have notched victories in their use of UAVs.

India successfully targeted infrastructure within Pakistan with minimal risk to personnel or major platforms, said KCL's Ladwig.

For Pakistan's military, which claimed to have struck Indian defence facilities with UAVs, drone attacks allow it to signal action while drawing less international scrutiny than conventional methods, he noted.

CHEAP BUT WITH AN ACHILLES HEEL

Despite the loss of many drones, both sides are doubling down.

"We're talking about relatively cheap technology," said Washington-based South Asia expert Michael Kugelman. "And while UAVs don't have the shock and awe effect of missiles and fighter jets, they can still convey a sense of power and purpose for those that launch them."

Indian defence planners are likely to expand domestic development of loitering munitions UAVs, according to an Indian security source and Sameer Joshi of Indian UAV maker NewSpace, which is deepening its research and development on such drones.

"Their ability to loiter, evade detection, and strike with precision marked a shift toward high-value, low-cost warfare with mass produced drones," said Joshi, whose firm supplies the Indian military.

And firms like ideaForge, which has supplied over 2,000 UAVs to the Indian security forces, are also investing on enhancing the ability of its drones to be less vulnerable to electronic warfare, said Saxena.

Another vulnerability that is harder to address is the Indian drone program's reliance on hard-to-replace components from China, an established military partner of Pakistan, four Indian dronemakers and officials said.

India continues to depend on China-made magnets and lithium for UAV batteries, said Drone Federation India's Shah.

"Weaponization of the supply chain is also an issue," said ideaForge's Saxena on the possibility of Beijing shutting the tap on components in certain situations.

For instance, Chinese restrictions on the sale of drones and components to Ukraine have weakened Kyiv's ability to produce critical combat drones, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.

A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said in response to Reuters' questions that Beijing has always implemented export controls on dual-use items in accordance with domestic laws and regulations as well as its international obligations.

"Diversification of supply chain is a medium to long term problem," said Shah. "You can't solve it in short term."

($1 = 85.0470 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Saeed Shah in Islamabad, Adnan Abidi in New Delhi, Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru and Liz Lee in Beijing; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Katerina Ang)

(([email protected];))

** India's Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS and Trent TREN.NS gain 1% and 2.3%, respectively

** BAJE and TREN to replace IndusInd Bank INBK.NS and Nestle India NEST.NS on BSE Sensex BSESN, effective June 23, exchange operator said on Thursday

** Sensex inclusion to result in inflows worth $304 million for TREN and $354 million for BAJE, IIFL Securities estimates

** NEST and INBK to see outflows worth $220 million and $134 million on exclusion - IIFL

** INBK and NEST trading flat

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

May 22 (Reuters) - India's BSE will add fashion retailer Trent TREN.NS and state-owned defence firm Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS to its benchmark Sensex .BSESN index from June 23, the exchange operator said on Thursday.

IndusInd Bank INBK.NS and Nestle India NEST.NS will exit the 30-stock index, it said.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

(([email protected]; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))

** India's Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS rises 5.15% to 382.35 rupees; top gainer in the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI index

** BAJE beats Q4 profit and revenue estimates; stock climbs after closing largely flat on Tuesday post-results

** Stock rated 'buy' on average by 21 analysts - data compiled by LSEG

FISCAL 2026 ORDER BOOK ROBUST; Q4 MARGINS IMPRESS

** Antique Stock Broking (maintains 'buy', raises PT by 12% to 422 rupees) says core profit margin of 30.6% came in above its estimates on better revenue mix

** Motilal Oswal (maintains 'buy', raises PT by 13% to 410 rupees) highlights margin beat, adds BAJE's order pipeline stands strong for the next two years, with increased indigenisation and higher R&D spends to further benefit margins

** Phillip Capital (maintains 'buy', raises PT by 21% to 440 rupees) adds strong order backlog will drive near term sales, while large orders in the pipeline will also aid medium term growth

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

** Shares of Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS rise 2% to 371 rupees

** Stock among top gainers on the Nifty 50 index.NSEI, which is down 0.7%

** Defence co posts Q4 consol net profit of 21.27 billion rupees ($248.8 million), beating analysts' estimate of 17.68 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** BAJE reports Q4 rev of 91.5 billion rupees, above analysts' expectation of 89.61 billion rupees

** Analysts at Morgan Stanley say BAJE posts better-than-expected Q4 profit helped by strong margins

** Nearly 52 mln shares traded, 2x their 30-day avg

** Stock up 25% so far in 2025 vs a 4.5% rise in the Nifty 50 index

($1 = 85.4820 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru)

BENGALURU, May 19 (Reuters) - Diary of India economic, corporate events on May 19

ECONOMIC, CORPORATE .BSE500 EVENTS:

NTS - 'No time scheduled'

(Compiled by Bengaluru Newsroom)

(([email protected]))

May 14 (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) HIAE.NS reported a nearly 8% drop in its fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, weighed by a delay in the supply of its Tejas light combat aircraft.

The fighter jet maker's consolidated profit fell to 39.77 billion rupees ($465.9 mln) in the quarter ended March 31, from 43.09 billion rupees a year earlier.

HAL's revenue was expected to take a hit due to delays in the supply of Tejas Mk 1A light combat aircraft, analysts had said, even as ordering activity in the defence sector remained steady throughout the quarter.

State-owned HAL's quarterly revenue fell 7.2% to 137 billion rupees for the March quarter, coming just under Elara Securities' estimates of an 8% fall.

Defence stocks, including HAL, have been under the spotlight since April-end, as India and its neighbour Pakistan engaged in a cross-border conflict following a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir. HAL has risen 6% since then. Its shares were up 2.6% after the results.

During the quarter, the company bagged orders worth 627 billion rupees for the supply of 156 light combat helicopters called 'Prachand'.

Peer Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS will report its quarterly results next week.

($1 = 85.3580 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vijay Malkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

(([email protected]; +91 8097833031;))

** Shares of Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS jump 3.7% to 334.75 rupees apiece, topping gains in the Nifty 50 index .NSEI

** JP Morgan says BAJE is its preferred pick in India's defence sector

** Adds, India-Pakistan conflict last week underlines skills and capabilities of the defence manufacturer

** "It is a pivotal moment for widespread recognition of BEL's capabilities in the field of air defense systems, integrated command and control systems, surface-to-air missiles, radars, surveillance systems and electronics warfare suits," brokerage says

** Reiterates "overweight" on BAJE and raises target price to a Street-high of 396 rupees from 343 rupees, implying an upside of 22.7%

** Says BAJE will likely receive orders worth 250 billion rupees to 300 billion rupees ($2.9 billion to $3.5 billion) in fiscal year 2026 for quick reaction surface To air missiles in addition to regular orders

** BAJE shares up 10.1% in 2025 so far, outperforming benchmark Nifty 50's .NSEI 4.9% rise, exchange data

($1 = 84.9100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463))

Repeats story from Wednesday morning in Asia

By Shivam Patel

NEW DELHI, April 16 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to transform India into a global factory floor has produced billions of dollars of low-cost iPhones and pharmaceuticals. Now he hopes to add missiles, helicopters and battleships to the shopping carts of foreign governments.

The world's largest importer of weapons after Ukraine is expanding the ability of the state-owned Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to offer long-term, low-cost loans to clients, including those whose political or credit risk profiles may limit their access to conventional financing, according to two Indian officials and three industry sources.

New Delhi will also sharply increase the number of defense attachés in its foreign missions as part of a new program that will see the government directly negotiate some arms deals, four Indian officials said. India is particularly targeting governments which have long relied on Russia for arms, two of the people said.

India's plans, which were detailed to Reuters by 15 people and have not been previously reported, mark an unprecedented effort by the government to inject itself into the recruitment and financing of foreign buyers as the world is rearming and longstanding geopolitical relationships are being recast.

Indian bureaucrats have long focused more on buying fighter aircraft from Russia's Sukhoi and howitzers from the United States to ward off China and Pakistan, Delhi's two nuclear-armed neighbors. While India has long had a small-arms production sector, its private firms have only recently started to make higher-end munitions and equipment.

The Indian defense and external affairs ministries, as well as Modi's office, did not respond to requests for comment. EXIM declined to comment.

“India is marching towards achieving the target of increasing defence exports,” defense minister Rajnath Singh wrote on X this month.

One turning point was Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to an Indian official tasked with growing arms exports. Like most of the people interviewed by Reuters for this story, the official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive government matters.

Spare Western arsenals were shipped to Kyiv while Russia's factories churned out munitions almost exclusively for its war effort. That left other nations that had historically relied on Washington and Moscow - the world's two largest arms exporters - scrambling for alternatives.

With its history of buying and absorbing arms technology from both the West and Russia, Delhi started to get more inquiries, the official said.

In response to Reuters' questions, Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport referred to previously issued statements that said it was in talks with India about jointly producing and promoting equipment to third-party states that are "friendly to Russia."

The Pentagon had no comment.

India produced $14.8 billion of arms in 2023-2024 fiscal year, up 62% since 2020, government data show. Some Indian-made artillery shells were found on the frontline in Ukraine in support of Kyiv's defense, Reuters previously reported.

Delhi has started brokering meetings between visiting delegations and domestic arms contractors, as well as demonstrating more sophisticated equipment like combat helicopters during military exercises, four officials said.

Viraj Solanki, a research fellow at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank, said India faced challenges selling its newer and more high-end wares.

"Unless it starts using its indigenous equipment more frequently and demonstrating its effectiveness, it is likely to struggle to convince potential buyers," he said.

FAST AND CHEAP

Modi's government has set a target of doubling arms-and-equipment exports to $6 billion by 2029. It hopes sales will go beyond the ammunition, small arms and defense-equipment components that currently compose much of its military exports.

Delhi missed its target of $3.5 billion in arms sales for the latest fiscal year by about a third, but that still marks a significant increase from the $230 million in weapons and defense components it exported a decade ago.

At a time of stretched global budgets and burgeoning defense demand, India is pitching itself partially as a relatively low-cost producer.

India can produce 155 mm artillery ammunition for about $300 to $400 a piece, two Indian sources said, while European equivalents sell for upwards of $3,000.

Indian firms have also sold howitzers for about $3 million each, one of them said, or roughly half what a European-made version costs.

While Western nations that reduced artillery and other defense production after the Cold War are rushing to restart factories, state-owned Munitions India was among the Indian firms that kept such capacity.

Delhi - which has in recent years faced off with Pakistan and China in combat - had a different strategic scenario, said retired naval Cdr. Gautam Nanda, who leads KPMG's Indian aerospace and defense consulting practice. "There were no cuts on our production capacity."

Private manufacturers like Adani Defence and Aerospace and armor-and-ammunition maker SMPP are beginning to produce 155 mm artillery shells, which they said had already been ordered by foreign governments.

"With this changing scenario, definitely we see a huge, massive demand for artillery ammunition," said SMPP chief executive Ashish Kansal, whose company is setting up a plant to manufacture large caliber 155 mm artillery ammunition.

HIGHER-END WEAPONS

India plans to use increased financing of arms exports via EXIM, which had a loan portfolio of $18.32 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year, to move its products up the value chain.

Such financing will largely be conducted by EXIM's commercial business, which has the state as a backstop but doesn't draw solely from the national budget. Indian arms makers lobbied heavily for the move, an industry source said.

Most banks in India have been unwilling to offer commercial loans for arms exports because they don't want to deal with countries that may have higher credit and political risks, one Indian diplomat told Reuters.

That has long hampered India from competing on big deals with countries like France, Turkey and China, whose packages come with financing or credit guarantees, the diplomat said.

One market India is hoping to expand in is Brazil, where EXIM opened an office in January.

Delhi is in talks to sell Akash missiles to Brasília, according to two industry sources and two Brazilian officials. Even as India faces shortfalls in its own shipbuilding capacity, it is also pursuing a deal to build battleships for Brazil, according to the two Brazilian officials and an Indian official.

India's Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS, which develops components for the Akash missile system, opened a marketing office in São Paulo this year, two Indian industry sources said.

EXIM was expected to help finance some of the deals in Brazil, they added.

Brazil's army said in an email to Reuters that the developers of Akash had responded to a request for information and that it had not made a decision on the purchase.

Bharat Electronics did not respond to requests for comment.

STRATEGIC AUTONOMY

Delhi is focusing its arms-export strategy on countries in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.

India plans to dispatch at least 20 new defense attachés to foreign embassies by March 2026, three Indian defense officials said. Their host nations include Algeria, Morocco, Guyana, Tanzania, Argentina, Ethiopia, and Cambodia, they said, adding that Delhi believed it had the ability to significantly expand arms exports to those governments.

One of the officials said this would be accompanied by a reduction in the number of defense attachés posted to Western embassies, who would be sent elsewhere.

The attachés have been tasked with promoting Indian weapons and were given resources to analyze the arms requirements of their host governments, the officials said.

Like India, many of these nations have a history of buying military equipment from the Soviet Union and Russia, which differs from the NATO standards adopted by many Western producers.

One early success story is Armenia, where India posted a defense attaché for the first time last year.

India has already eroded Russia's monopoly over arming Armenia, which was part of the Soviet Union but has since said that it cannot rely on Moscow.

It sold 43% of the arms Armenia imported between 2022 and 2024, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, up from almost nothing between 2016 and 2018.

Rosoboronexport said in March that SIPRI, which relies on open-source information, does not have comprehensive data.

(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow, Idrees Ali in Washington, Luciana Novaes Magalhaes and Manuela Andreoni in Brasília, and Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Katerina Ang)

(([email protected];))

** Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS rises 4.6% to 284.4 rupees; marks biggest one-day pct gain in more than two months

** Electronic equipment maker wins 22 bln-rupee ($257.4 mln) order from Indian Air Force for electronic warfare suites

** Stock rated "buy" on avg; median PT is 350 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, BAJE down 2.8%

($1 = 85.8525 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))