A private defence firm based in Karnataka’s Bengaluru has developed India’s first indigenous sniper rifle prototypes that are meant for the use of the Indian armed forces, reports India Today.

According to the report, the indigenous development of these weapons is expected to give a huge boost to Make in India initiative of the Modi government. Besides, it will also help in making India a major defence manufacturing hub.

The firm, SSS Defence, has developed two sniper rifles and is hoping to lead the way for India to become an arms manufacturing as well as exporting hub.

"We started designing and developing these rifles after 'make in India' came in the defence sector. We became one of the few manufacturers allowed to develop arms in the country. These two weapons are entirely made indigenously," SSS Defence Managing Director (MD) Satish R Machani was quoted in the report as saying.

As per the report, the SSS defence is a 61-year-old company which earlier used to make components for the automotive industry.

"We have also been supplying components for the defence sector. Our idea is to have a complete system of arms for our forces and we eventually hope to become an arms exporter. Obviously, we have to put in a lot more work to make our weapons global level but we have an excellent Research and Development centre," Machani said.

The company is also building an 80,000 sq ft arms factory in Jigani, near Bengaluru, for its manufacturing unit.

"We have developed high-end sniper rifles calibered 7.62x51 mm and .338 Lapua Magnum platforms. Each rifle uses a barreled action that is inspected, gauged, hand-worked and accurized. The barrel length options range from 20 inches to 24 inches, based on the mission criteria and use environments,” company’s CEO Vivek Krishnan said while explaining the working of the weapons.