BEL sees its order book soar

Company receives Rs 8,200 cr orders so far; expects Rs 5,000 cr more by March

The Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the Bangalore-based defence electronics major, has witnessed a robust growth in its order book during the first 10 months of the current financial year. Currently, the company’s order book stands at Rs 16,000 crore, excluding the projects delivered so far this year.

“At the beginning of the fiscal our order book position was Rs 11,350 crore. In the last 10 months of the fiscal we have received orders worth Rs 8,200 crore and hope to get another Rs 5,000 crore worth of orders by end of March 2011,” Ashwani Kumar Datt, chairman and managing director, BEL told Business Standard.

BEL had met its sales target of Rs 5,700 crore this fiscal and hopes to close the year with a net order book of Rs 18,500 crore, showing a growth of 63 per cent over the last fiscal.

Some of the major orders expected over the next two months include an order from the Indian Coast Guard for Coastal Surveillance System valued at Rs 220 crore, Battlefield Surveillance System valued at Rs 2,500 crore and Weapon Locating Radar from the Army. There will be some more orders pertaining to upgrades of several projects executed earlier, he said.

Datt said the company was also waiting for the Army to place an order with the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for the Army version of the Akash Weapon System valued at Rs 12,000 crore.

Of this, Rs 3,700 crore of business will flow to BEL, he said. While the Air Force version of Akash Weapon System is integrated by BEL, the Army version will be done by BDL in association with BEL and companies from the private sector, he said adding that the project will be executed over four years, ending 2016.

BEL had recently received an order for six squadrons of the Akash Missile System worth Rs 3,619 crore from the IAF. This is in addition to the existing order for two squadrons worth Rs 1,220 crore. BEL will deliver the first squadron by June 2011 and second squadron by December 2011.

Other orders include Lynx U2, Lynx upgrades for Indian Navy, upgrade of the fire control systems, among others.BEL is also expecting an order from the Army for the supply of Weapon Locating Radar, developed by the Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) in association with BEL.

“The Army has tested the first unit supplied by us and has found its performance to be better than a similar radar from the US. So, they are placing further orders with the BEL this year,” Datt said.