India test-fired its first indigenously developed medium range sub-sonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay' on Tuesday from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in the presence of top defence scientists and senior officials.

"The missile blasted off from a mobile launcher positioned in the launch pad - 3 of the ITR at about 11:54am," defence sources said.

The missile has the capability of being launched from land, sea and air, they said, adding Nirbhay has good loitering capability, good control and guidance, high degree of accuracy in terms of impact and very good stealth features.

Nirbhay was developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based in Bangalore.

India has the technology of super-sonic missile like BrahMos which is jointly developed by India and Russia. BrahMos has the striking range of 290km.

In the early morning, the Balasore district administration temporarily shifted 453 families, comprising 2,586 adult members and 698 children, residing within a two kilometre radius of the launch pad at the ITR to nearby shelter places during the test launch of the missile as a safety measure, said a district revenue officer.

For this temporary shift of the families they were compensated, he added.