BDL single tender for 300 anti-tank missile sights has gone to Aindri Defence Advisory Private Limited, a Hyderabad firm set up by the defence PSU's former Chairman and Managing Director Siddharth Mishra and his wife Shambhavi Mishra. The company has quoted Rs 56.8 crore.

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) issued the tender in May. Aindri was the only company invited to bid. In a single tender, a buyer asks one chosen supplier to quote instead of seeking bids from the open market.

BDL single tender issued on grounds of urgency

BDL cited urgency for choosing the single-tender route over open bidding. The tender records that the competent authority certified that "the demand is urgent" and that any extra cost from not using an advertised tender was justified. It adds that the reasons for the urgency, and why the purchase could not be anticipated, have been placed on record.

Aindri was invited after five sample sights it supplied cleared BDL's acceptance and validation tests. The firm has passed technical evaluation, and its bid is now under financial evaluation. The supplier must also provide technical support for maintenance, repair and overhaul of the sights for at least 15 years.

The sights are to be delivered within seven months. Optical sights are the aiming unit of an anti-tank guided missile system. They help the operator find, track and lock on to a target. BDL, set up in Hyderabad in 1970 and owned by the Ministry of Defence, has built anti-tank guided missiles for the Army under licence for decades.

Same sights bought through competitive tenders in 2024 and 2025

BDL bought this type of sight through competitive tenders in each of the two previous years, according to reports. The 2026 tender is the first in that three-year period in which a private company alone was invited. Earlier supplies came from public-sector suppliers, the reports said.

Aindri was set up seven months after Mishra retired

Aindri was incorporated in May 2024, about seven months after Siddharth Mishra retired as BDL's Chairman and Managing Director. He and his wife initially held equal shares. Mishra remained a director and shareholder until January 2025, when he stepped down on his appointment as Member (Technical) at the National Company Law Tribunal in Kolkata.

As BDL's head, Mishra oversaw large anti-tank missile orders. In February 2022, BDL signed a Rs 3,131 crore contract to licence-build Konkurs-M anti-tank guided missiles for the Army, a deal Mishra announced in a stock exchange filing, with state-owned India Optel Limited named as the supplier of electro-optical components. BDL has published details of its anti-tank guided missile supply contracts on its website, including a separate order for the Indian Army in May 2024.

Aindri accounts show small advisory business

Aindri's 2024-25 balance sheet shows revenue of Rs 44.43 lakh and a net profit of Rs 2.89 lakh, according to reports. That is a fraction of the value of the sights tender. The company has links to two firms that have done business with BDL. Its listed office in Hyderabad was found locked, and it has no manufacturing facility on record, the reports said.

Siddharth Mishra and Shambhavi Mishra did not respond to reporters' calls and messages seeking comment. BDL did not respond to questions on the tender. No agency has opened an inquiry into it.

KTR seeks Defence Minister's intervention

The tender has drawn political reaction in Telangana. Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president K T Rama Rao urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to examine aerospace and defence firms in Hyderabad that supply the armed forces. He said the city was turning into a hub for "fake Aerospace and Defence shell companies" and blamed the state's Congress government.

BDL order book continues to grow

The sights tender is a small part of BDL's work. On Thursday, the PSU signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence for Varunastra heavyweight torpedoes for the Navy. In September it won a Rs 810.79 crore order for 160 SAT-SAAW glide bombs for the Indian Air Force, and in June it took a Rs 1,347.71 crore order from HAL for Helina launchers and countermeasure units.