US-sanctioned Indian explosives maker sent last Sudan shipment in January, company says

New Delhi: SBL Energy Ltd, an Indian manufacturer of industrial explosives recently sanctioned by the United States for alleged links to Sudan’s civil war, dispatched its final shipment to Sudan on January 27 this year – nearly six months before the sanctions were imposed, a senior company official has said.

The official, speaking to The Indian Express on condition of anonymity, stated that SBL Energy has not exported any material to Sudan since that date. The company began exporting to Sudan in 2022 and made approximately 10–11 shipments in total, with a two-year gap before the final consignment in January.

Last week, the US imposed sanctions on SBL Energy and its CEO Alok Choudhari, accusing the company of supplying explosives to the Sudanese Armed Forces through Target Multi Activities Co Ltd (TMAC). The US Treasury alleged that these supplies contributed to the intensification of the civil war in Sudan.

However, the company official maintained that SBL was not TMAC’s principal supplier. He claimed that TMAC sourced explosives from about eight suppliers, including firms from South Africa and Colombia, all of which have also been sanctioned. The official suggested that SBL faced ‘secondary sanctions’ because it was among TMAC’s suppliers, and that TMAC itself was not a sanctioned entity at the time of supply.

The official asserted that all products supplied to TMAC were ‘100 per cent industrial-grade mining explosives’ intended exclusively for civilian mining operations. ‘The products we supplied have no connection with defence procurement or military supplies and cannot be used in military activities or in a civil war,’ the official said.

He added that SBL Energy supplies only to authorised buyers after performing statutory due diligence, and that the company cannot be held responsible if products later change hands through intermediaries. ‘I am a manufacturer. I supply to an authorised dealer. That dealer may supply another entity, which may further sell it to a third or fourth party. I cannot be held responsible for that chain,’ he said.

SBL Energy exports industrial explosives to around 22 countries across Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia. The company maintains that none of its export destinations were under international sanctions at the time of supply. The official described Sudan as an attractive market because of its mining sector, and noted that other manufacturers from India, Russia and China continue to export mining explosives to Sudan.

In a statement released earlier, SBL Energy said it is a government-licensed manufacturer of industrial explosives incorporated in 2002, supplying India’s coal, power, steel, cement, mining and infrastructure sectors for over two decades. It stated that exports are undertaken under a stringent compliance framework and that it has engaged legal counsel to cooperate with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in seeking removal from the sanctions list.