Bharat Forge Subsidiary Acquires 949-Acre Land In Andhra Pradesh For Defence Manufacturing Friday, September 05, 2025 by Indian Defence News
Bharat Forge Limited, one of India's leading advanced forging and engineering solutions providers, has reinforced its defence sector ambitions through a major infrastructural investment undertaken via its subsidiaries.
Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited (KSSL), a wholly‑owned subsidiary of Bharat Forge, and its step‑down subsidiary, Agneyastra Energetics Limited, have secured an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. (APIIC) for the acquisition of a 949.65‑acre land parcel at Madakasira in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.
This acquisition is not just a land transaction, but a strategic move to establish a Defence Energetics Manufacturing Complex, one of the largest of its kind in the private sector.
The planned facility will be a state‑of‑the‑art complex dedicated to the end‑to‑end production of advanced energetics, which are the core of modern defence and aerospace systems.
The proposed infrastructure will house a high explosives manufacturing plant, an ammunition filling facility, and a specialized gun propellant production unit. Together, these capabilities will allow Bharat Forge's defence arm to cover the critical spectrum of energetics that feed directly into India's ammunition, artillery, and missile programs.
In addition to these first‑phase capabilities, provisions have been made to expand into more advanced segments of energetics, including solid propellants, energetic formulations for ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as for space launch vehicle propulsion systems. This forward‑looking architecture reflects Bharat Forge's intention to position itself not just as a supplier of land‑centric defence energetics, but as a critical enabler for India's strategic missile and space programs.
Strategically, the complex represents a pivotal augmentation of India's domestic capabilities in a domain historically dependent on imports and tightly controlled technologies. Energetics, including explosives and propellants, form the most sensitive backbone of ammunition and missile ecosystems.
By investing in indigenous design, testing, and production facilities, Bharat Forge is plugging a long‑standing gap in India's push towards self‑reliance under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. It will also reduce vulnerability to supply chain disruptions in critical munitions, while offering the armed forces assured domestic access to high‑quality energetic materials.
Furthermore, given the scale of the land bank secured, this complex can be expanded in phases to integrate value‑chain capacities such as composite casings, warhead assembly, advanced fuses, and integration facilities, enabling Bharat Forge to emerge as a vertically integrated player in future weapons systems development and exports.
From a regional and industrial development perspective, the choice of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh is equally significant. Situated in a semi‑arid zone with low civilian density, the site provides the necessary safety buffers for hazardous materials processing and testing, while also benefitting from proximity to Bengaluru and Hyderabad -- two hubs of India's aerospace and defence ecosystem.
This geographical advantage could help foster collaborations with public sector enterprises such as DRDO laboratories, HAL, and ISRO centres, as well as private start‑ups and MSMEs in the domain of precision energetics. As the facility matures, it is expected to generate a substantial demand for skilled technical manpower, catalysing spin‑off industries in materials handling, testing technologies, and safety systems within the state.
For Bharat Forge, long known for its prowess in heavy forgings, automotive components, and artillery systems, the investment marks a transformational expansion into one of the most critical but under‑invested domains of defence manufacturing: energetic materials.
Through KSSL and Agneyastra Energetics Limited, Bharat Forge is effectively laying the foundation for a sustainable domestic energetics industry, which could support not only indigenous programs such as the Pinaka rocket system, the ATAGS howitzer, and BrahMos-related propellant needs, but also new‑generation systems such as the Rudram‑series air‑launched missiles, surface‑to‑air missile families, and future space launch vehicles where advanced propellant technologies are key.
In the long term, this venture positions Bharat Forge as a strategic partner in India's integrated defence industrial base, capable of supporting ammunition security, missile program autonomy, and an emerging footprint in space propulsion energetics.
Equally, it creates an opportunity for Bharat Forge to leverage India's growing defence export ambitions, as many countries seek reliable suppliers of advanced energetics outside of the traditional Western/Russian supply chains.
With robust infrastructural investment and a vision aligned with national priorities, this Defence Energetics Manufacturing Complex at Madakasira could become a flagship facility ushering India's private sector into the strategic core of energetics production, complementing the state‑owned ordnance ecosystem, and cementing Bharat Forge's role as a key pillar in India's drive for self‑reliance and technological sovereignty.
Agencies
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