Mumbai: Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T), India’s largest engineering and construction firm, on Friday said it entered into a contract with the defence ministry for a Rs4500 crore order to supply artillery guns to the Indian Army.

The contract for 100 units of 155mm/52 calibre tracked self-propelled gun systems is the largest given to a private Indian company by the ministry, L&T said in a statement.

Under the contract, which is in line with the Indian government’s Make In India initiative, L&T will deliver the 100 guns, that will have over 50% indigenous content, in 42 months, from its manufacturing facilities, including a new Armoured Systems Complex at Hazira in Gujarat.

L&T, along with its South Korean technology partner Hanwha Tech Win (HTW), had bid for this ‘Buy Global’ acquisition program of MoD in 2011, L&T said.

L&T later emerged as the sole qualified bidder out of four bidders for the program. The bidders went through a series of user trials and evaluations, based on the performance of the K9 VAJRA-T self-propelled Howitzer, the statement said.

The gun called K9 VAJRA-T is an enhanced version of Hanwha Tech Win’s K9 Thunder – a self-propelled Howitzer – and is customised and co-developed by L&T to suit the specific requirements of the Indian Army, including desert operations.

The K9 Thunder self-propelled Howitzer is among the best in the world with over 1,000 units already in service in Korea and few other countries, L&T said.

With over $16 billion in revenue, L&T is also engaged in businesses of technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services.

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