JSW Group has acquired a majority stake in extreme off-road vehicle company Gecko Motors, marking its foray into the defence sector. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition was done by the company’s new vertical JSW Defence and Aerospace. Following the buy, the company has been named as JSW Gecko Motors, it said in a statement.
Gecko Motors had secured an order worth Rs 250 crore from the Indian Army for manufacturing and supplying of 96 specialist mobility vehicles, branded as ATOR N1200. The firm is manufacturing this at its unit in Chandigarh, Punjab, and will be supplied to the armed forces no later than June 2024.
“At $73.8 billion, India as a country has an extremely large defence budget. By 2030 the Indian defence budget is likely to grow to $200 billion. Capital outlay forms a very large part of the defence budget and it is here, we at JSW see a big opportunity,” Parth Jindal, director at JSW Group, said.
JSW Defence has appointed Commodore (retd) Madhu Gentela, an ex-Naval officer to lead the group’s defence business. The company is also actively pursuing partnerships with global players and Indian start-ups to introduce the latest military technology across multiple defence equipment segments.