Reliance Defence, a defence company owned by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure, has got a big export order worth Rs 600 crore from Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH, which is a well-known German company that makes weapons and ammunition.
This order is considered one of the biggest deals in the high-tech ammunition sector, according to Reliance Infrastructure. The two companies recently teamed up for a long-term partnership where Reliance will be supplying explosives and propellants for Rheinmetall’s ammunition products.
Reliance Defence has big goals in the defence export business. The company wants to become one of the top three defence exporters in India within the next one to two years. It is putting a lot of focus on Europe as a main market for its international growth.
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according to Business Standard, Anil Ambani, who is the founder and chairman of the Reliance Group, said, “The strategic partnership with Rheinmetall brings cutting-edge capabilities to India and represents a defining milestone for the country’s private defence manufacturing sector. Guided by the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, as championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our ambition is clear — to position Reliance Defence among the world’s top three defence exporters. Through this, we aim to enable India not only to meet its domestic defence needs with confidence but also to establish itself as a trusted force in the global defence supply chain.”
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To support this partnership and other future work, Reliance Defence is going to set up a huge new factory in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. The factory will be part of the Dhirubhai Ambani Defence City (DADC) and will be built in the Watad industrial area. This project is expected to become the biggest new private defence manufacturing project ever done in India. The company plans to make explosives, ammunition, and small arms at this new facility.
The investment for building these defence facilities in Ratnagiri is set at Rs 5,000 crore over the next five years. A company source shared that Reliance Defence will fund 30% of this investment using its own profits, and the rest 70% will come from loans. The source also said the equity part will mostly come from the company’s internal cash flow.
The company has also tied up with another German company called Diehl Defence. This deal is for the production of next-generation terminally guided munitions (TGM), and the manufacturing for this too will happen in Ratnagiri. This shows that Reliance Defence is not just working with one foreign partner but forming strong partnerships with multiple big names from Germany to grow its business in advanced defence technology.
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Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall AG, also shared his thoughts on the partnership and said, “This strategic partnership of Rheinmetall with Reliance Defence, led by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, illustrates our strong commitment to partner with India under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Modi.” Rheinmetall AG is one of the world’s biggest defence companies, with a market cap of over €80 billion. In 2024, it earned €9.8 billion and has operations in 171 locations around the world.
