M&M to bid for India’s $3.5 billion defence projects: report

Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS), a unit of M&M will bid for defence projects in India worth $3.5 billion over the next seven years, said its chief executive yesterday.

Khutub Hai, head of MDS, a special division set up in New Delhi to oversee the requirements of the domestic defence sector told Reuters in an interview yesterday, ''Most of projects will come from artillery systems and armoured vehicles."

Hai said that he hopes to increase revenues from the current $21.7 million to $430 million by 2016 through joint ventures.

In March 2009, M&M had sought shareholders' approval to spin off two divisions of its defence unit into separate subsidiaries by transferring the land systems and naval systems divisions of MDS into separate companies. (See: M&M proposes to spin off land, sea defence units)

MDS is a current supplier of the entire range of light combat / armoured vehicles and their derivatives for defence / security forces. It also is the largest private sector company supplying bullet-proof vehicles and sea mines.

The company has been awarded industrial licenses by the government of India for Light Armoured Multi Role Vehicles, simulators for weapons and weapon systems, mobile surveillance platforms, sea mines, small arms and Up-armoured vehicles