General Kalashnikov visited India only once, in February 2004 where he kicked up a row. The star attraction at Defexpo, a biennial defence exhibition in the capital, was being escorted around the stalls at Delhi's Pragati Maidan. He stood transfixed at the Indian Ordnance Factory board pavilion. On display there was a knock-off of his assault rifle with its distinctive banana shaped magazine. The pretense was so thinly veiled that the weapon was even called the 'AK-7'. The general made his disgust known. The OFB had illegally copied his design. His protest had an instant impact. OFB shelved the AK-7. Izhmash, the Russian factory that has produced the rifle since it was accepted for service in 1947, however did not pursue the copyright violation. Andrey Vishnyakov, Izhmash's fast-talking sales manager told me it was purely business. Russia hoped to sell the OFB the rights to make genuine AK-47s.
