The company thanked the government's commitment to increasing Pindad's sales by 30 to 40 percent every year, president director Silmy Karim said on Wednesday. Pindad booked Rp 2.8 trillion in contracts in 2015, up 79 percent from the Rp 1.56 trillion it booked in the previous year.

Pindad recorded a 36 percent increase in sales in 2015 compared to 2014, Silmy said. Furthermore, the firm also booked production increases in weapons, armored vehicles and special ammunition of 133 percent, 86 percent, and 84 percent, respectively, in 2015 compared to the previous year.

"The multi-year contracts will help Pindad to form a longer-term plan, we need to renovate some facilities as well as expand the production line," he told thejakartapost.com in an interview in his office in Bandung, West Java.

Prior to 2015, the weapons producer only booked growth in contract values of a mere 2 percent every year. 

"We’re aiming for Rp 5 trillion sales at the end of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo's term. Compared to the big Asian players like South Korea, China, India and Singapore we are still small, but we are moving forward," he said.

Pindad's current sales mostly come from domestic needs with only 10 percent of its product exported overseas such as to Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, Egypt and Nigeria. The company recently produced a non-military product, an excavator, which has booked 11,000 orders from the government for its extensive infrastructure projects, Silmy claimed, adding that there was no plan yet to sell the product to private companies. (rin)

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