Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a deal with Mahindra Defence Systems (MDSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), for supply of 1,300 Light Specialist Vehicles to the Indian Army, at a cost of Rs 10.56 billion, in New Delhi on Mar. 22, 2021. The induction of vehicles is planned to be completed in four years.

The Light Specialist Vehicle (LSV) is a modern fighting vehicle and will be authorised to various fighting units for carriage of Medium Machine Guns, Automatic Grenade Launchers as well as Anti-tank Guided Missiles.

The Light Specialist Vehicle is indigenously designed and developed by MDSL. These combat vehicles are extremely agile with all round protection against small arms fire and will assist small independent detachments which are required to operate this weapon platform in the operational area.

SP Shukla, Chairman, Mahindra Defence Systems, said that, "This contract truly signifies success of Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. It is the first major contract for the advanced armoured tactical vehicles that are designed and developed by private sector in India with intellectual property rights within the country. This contract paves the way for large scale adoption of Indian platforms with indigenous capabilities."

Shares of the company gained Rs 4.55, or 0.53%, to trade at  Rs 858.15.  The total volume of shares traded  was  132,691 at the BSE (2.14 p.m., Tuesday).