The new manufacturing unit in India of JD Taurus, a joint venture between the Brazilian multinational Taurus Armas S.A. and the Indian group Jindal Defence Systems Pvt Limited, began producing pilot batches of firearms in March 2024.
At this stage, production is being assisted on site by the Taurus do Brasil team, as established in the process of transferring technology (ToT) and know-how to professionals at the Indian plant.
The aim of the pilot batches is to ensure that the technical, operational and manufacturing process conditions are established in the proposed industrial batches, as well as a high level of safety and quality so that the products and processes can be reproduced on an industrial scale.
The JD Taurus plant in India will produce firearms for both the military and civilian markets. The production of firearms for the military, police and security markets will take place according to the tenders that will be won.
The plant currently has an annual production capacity of up to 250,000 weapons, but has the possibility of increasing this depending on demand.
The largest tender ever held in the world, for 425,000 rifles for the Indian Ministry of Defense, is underway and JD Taurus is participating. The submission of rifle samples will take place in March 2024 for the qualification evaluations, which will follow a rigorous protocol of tests to be carried out at a base in the Himalayas in low temperature conditions and in the desert in high temperatures. The company is also participating in other smaller tenders for police and paramilitary forces which, in the medium term, are estimated to bring in more than US$30 million.
Taurus is known in the global market for its competitive prices, cutting-edge technology, superior quality and high production volume (which few manufacturers in the sector are capable of). These are some of the factors that led Taurus to win, among others, the tender to supply T4 carbines to the Philippine Army in 2022, competing with other major international firearms manufacturers.
A pioneer
Taurus, a Strategic Defence Company and member of the Brazilian Defence Industrial Base (BID), is a pioneer in the technology transfer program for the promising Indian Defence market, in line with the “Make in India” program aimed at developing the local industry. JD Taurus is one of the first private companies to have a small arms plant in the state of Haryana.
The partnership with Jindal Defence, which also had institutional support from Nebraska Capital of Porto Alegre, was celebrated in 2020 during the first Brazil-India Defence Industry Dialogue held at the India-Brazil Business Forum (IBBF), organized by the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. Jindal Defense and Taurus Armas S.A. have a 51/49 shareholding. While Taurus contributes its technology, Jindal Defence provides the capital.
In this way, Brazil, known as a country that traditionally exports goods from the primary sector, has become, through Taurus, a reference in the export of technology to one of the most important countries in the world, the largest in terms of population and in an extremely strategic Defense sector, where India already stands out in terms of investments for the development of weapons and equipment with cutting-edge technology.
India: A large market
India has one of the largest armed forces in the world in terms of personnel. There are around 1.4 million military personnel. The Indian market has around 7 million private security professionals. With a population of over 1.4 billion, India is the most populous country in the world.
Between 2018 and 2022, India was the world’s largest arms importer and is among the top five countries in the world with the highest defense spending.
India is considered the fourth military power in the world, behind the USA, Russia and China. It also has the fifth largest GDP in the world, ahead of countries like the UK, France, Italy, Canada, Russia and South Korea.
India’s potential in the defense sector is immense. The jobs created with the new plant and the transfer of technology are undoubtedly making this a new era in the Indian Defense sector.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***