NEW DELHI, August 23. /TASS/. The joint Russian-Indian venture Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL) plans to increase the production of Kalashnikov AK-203 assault rifles to 600 units per day by April 2026, IRRPL CEO and Managing Director Major General Sudhir Kumar Sharma said in an interview with TASS.

"We are producing at an average rate of 300 rifles a day. And we are likely to enhance it to 600 rifles a day," he said adding that the enterprise is "on the way to make it 600 possibly by April 2026."

According to him, there were various kinds of quality checks and testing conducted together with Russian specialists. "All that took time and we started our first delivery in December 2023," Sharma said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the creation of a joint Indian-Russian venture to manufacture Kalashnikov assault rifles in the country in March 2019.

Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited for the production of AK-203 was established in the Korwa area of the Amethi district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The founders of the enterprise from the Russian side are Rosoboronexport and the Kalashnikov concern of the Rostec state corporation.

India has become the first foreign country to manufacture the 200s series of Kalashnikov assault rifles. The AK-203 assault rifle in the configuration for the Indian Armed Forces was first presented at the international arms exhibition Defexpo India 2020. Unlike its predecessor, the AK-203 is equipped with an anatomical Magpul-type buttstock and a more comfortable pistol grip. Picatinny rails for mounting various sights are located on the reinforced cover of the receiver and the upper part of the modernized fore-end. MIL-STD-1913 standard rails are also installed at the bottom of the fore-end (for bipods, front grip or tactical flashlight) and on its sides (for laser sight or tactical flashlight). The assault rifle can be equipped with a 40-mm GP-34 underbarrel grenade launcher.