Hyderabad-based Lokesh Machines Restricted has secured a major ₹9.5 crore contract from the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The deal includes supplying indigenous ASMI 9×19mm submachine weapons (SMGs), marking a milestone for personal sector involvement in small arms manufacturing.
The corporate confirmed this in a inventory trade submitting on March 17, 2026.
This contract, valued at roughly $1 million, underscores the rising belief in home-grown defence manufacturing. Lokesh Machines, a precision engineering agency with experience in aerospace and defence parts, will ship the ASMI SMGs to bolster SSB’s operational capabilities.
The ASMI, developed by the Defence Analysis and Growth Organisation (DRDO), represents a leap in indigenous small arms know-how. Chambered in the usual 9×19mm Parabellum spherical, it combines excessive reliability with low recoil, making it supreme for close-quarters fight.
Fashionable options of the ASMI embrace a ambidextrous design, Picatinny rails for optics and equipment, and a modular building for straightforward upkeep. Its light-weight polymer body enhances mobility, essential for SSB personnel guarding India’s porous borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
SSB, tasked with securing these delicate frontiers and countering cross-border threats, advantages immensely from such superior weaponry. The drive usually operates in rugged terrains the place weapon sturdiness and speedy dealing with are paramount.
This order aligns with India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, selling self-reliance in defence. Personal companies like Lokesh Machines are filling essential gaps left by conventional public sector undertakings, accelerating indigenisation of infantry arms.
DRDO’s function in ASMI’s improvement highlights profitable public-private partnerships. The gun underwent rigorous trials, proving superior to many imported counterparts in tropical and high-altitude situations prevalent alongside SSB’s deployment zones.
Lokesh Machines’ choice because the manufacturing accomplice stems from its confirmed monitor file. The corporate already manufactures precision elements for missiles and plane, bringing high-quality machining to small arms meeting.
Financially, the ₹9.5 crore deal boosts Lokesh Machines’ order e book in defence. It alerts potential for bigger contracts, as the federal government pushes for 75% indigenous content material in procurements by 2025-26.
For SSB, integration of ASMI SMGs enhances inner safety operations too. The drive ceaselessly tackles insurgency and smuggling within the Terai area, the place the weapon’s controllability throughout sustained hearth proves advantageous.
This improvement bodes nicely for India’s small arms ecosystem. With ASMI now coming into serial manufacturing, different paramilitary forces like CRPF and BSF might comply with go well with, lowering import dependence that after exceeded 70%.
Strategically, arming SSB with ASMI strengthens India’s border posture amid rising tensions with neighbours. The SMG’s reliability in hostile climate helps round the clock vigilance.
This contract exemplifies the personal sector’s rising stature in defence manufacturing. It paves the best way for extra such offers, fostering innovation and financial development in Hyderabad’s burgeoning defence hub.
IDN (With Company Inputs)
