The Ministry of Defence and Bharat Electronics Limited have signed ten contracts worth ₹5,498 crore for the supply of equipments to Indian armed forces, the PSU company says in a stock exchange filing. According to the company, the move is part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ push in the defence sector. Of the total 10 contracts, two are air force projects, two are army projects and six are navy projects.
Amongst the air force projects, the government has signed EW Suite Equipment for Medium Lift Helicopter (90 Nos.) with Bharat Electronics, Bangalore. It is indigenously designed and developed by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) lab, Combat Aircraft Systems Development & Integration Centre (CASDIC).
Apart from this, Bharat Electronics, Bangalore has manufactured AMC for Akash Missile System for the maintenance of two squadron helicopters. AMS includes Surveillance Radar, Fire Control Radar, and Control and Command Centre developed by BEL.
Amongst the army projects, the government has signed Automated Air Defence Control and Reporting System under Project Akashteer, with Bharat Electronics, Ghaziabad to monitor low-level airspace over the battle areas of the Indian Army and effectively control the Ground Based Air Defence Weapon Systems. Apart from this, Instant Fire Detection and Supressing System IFDSS for T72, which is designed by DRDO, will be manufactured by Bharat Electronics, Kotdwara.
Amongst navy projects, Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) under DRDO and Bharat Electronics has jointly developed portable state-of-the-art radios. These radios support multi-band, multi-channel, multi-role/ mission operations with voice/data to meet the needs of network-centric warfare of the Indian Navy. Apart from this, Bharat Electronics, Panchkula has productized HD VLF HF Receiver, which is a communication equipment, designed to Receive and Demodulate Data/ Voice in VLF and HF Band of operation in the ships and submarines of the Indian Navy.
Bharat Electronics, Hyderabad has also manufactured Sarang, which will be installed on Kamov 31 Helicopters of the Indian Navy, that intercepts, equipment, designed to Receive and Demodulate Data/ Voice in VLF and HF Band of operation in the ships and submarines of Indian Navy.
The three other projects signed by Bharat Electronics with Indian Navy include INS-SA, CMS for P17 & P28, Varuna EW.
On Wednesday, stocks of Bharat Electronics closed at ₹91.49 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Shares of the company surged 1.9% to hit an intraday high of ₹91.95 apiece on the BSE. During the session, the company’s market capitalization stood at ₹66,877 crore.
For the third quarter-ended December 2022, BEL reported a 2.87% year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit to ₹613.01 crore from ₹595.86 crore in the same quarter last year. The revenue from operations grew 11% to ₹4,064.9 crore as compared to ₹3660.84 crore reported in the third quarter of December 2021.
Last month, Rajnath Singh, Union minister of defence, had said that 75% of the defence outlay or around ₹1 lakh crore will be spent on procurement from domestic defence manufacturers beginning FY2023-24. In the union budget for FY2023-24, the government allocated ₹5.94 lakh crore for the Ministry of Defence, which is 13.18% of the country’s total outlay of ₹45.03 lakh crore.
