New Delhi, Mar 10 (KNN) Eyeing at encouraging manufacturing in Defence sector under the Make in India initiative, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) will be holding, "AMMO INDIA 2018" in the national capital.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to inaugurate the scheduled conference on March 12 at FICCI house.

The 2-day International Conference on Military Ammunition is themed: Make in India Opportunities and Challenges, the event website informed.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) under the Government of India's (GoI) - 'Make in India' initiative is encouraging the industry to engage in the manufacture of ammunition. Currently, under the Arms Rules, 2016, GoI has opened up the ammunition manufacturing to the private sector, which until recently, was open only to the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU).

This offers tremendous opportunities for the industry to meet the ammunition requirements of our nation, FICCI informed.

Participants at the conference are to include government officials, representatives of various industry bodies, MSMEs, academia and the Indian army. (KNN/DA)