BEL ups focus on R&D; to spend Rs 340 cr

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the Bangalore-based defence electronics company, has enhanced its focus on in-house research and development (R&D) programmes this year in an effort to develop new technologies and products to increase its business, a top company official said.

“Every year we have been spending in the range of Rs 250 crore on upgrading our facilities as part of our R&D activities and is normally 5-6 per cent of the turnover. This year we will spend around 6 per cent of our turnover on R&D programmes. In the next three years we are targeting a spend of 8 per cent of the turnover. We are taking onboard more and more engineers, buying more research tools, sanctioning more development projects and co-development with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) among others,” Ashwani Kumar Datt, chairman and managing director, BEL said.

During the current year, the company plans to spend around Rs 340 crore on R&D activities, which is about 6 per cent of the expected turnover of Rs 5,700 crore, he told Business Standard.

In 2009-10, about 75 per cent of BEL’s turnover of Rs 5,220 crore accrued from products using indigenous technology.

About 57 per cent of the turnover is due to products designed by BEL, 18 per cent of the turnover was due to DRDO and other indigenous agencies developed products. The remaining 25 per cent is due to products for which technologies were acquired through foreign technology transfers.

Other than in-house efforts, BEL’s R&D engineers had active interactions with DRDO and other national research and development agencies and academic institutions apart from foreign partners for joint development efforts.

Presently, the company carries out R&D activities in all of its business segments like radars, naval systems, communication, encryption, electronic warfare, command control systems, opto-electronics, tank & weapon electronics, fire control systems, avionics and civilian equipment among others. BEL has 3,496 engineers on its rolls of which 1,680 are engaged in their R&D labs across the country.

“We have revised our policy of recruitment from the campuses. This year, we have inducted 50 from the IITs after a long gap. Our salaries are higher at the entry level and as they grow up in the company, they may find our package lower than the private sector. Our attrition is less than 1 per cent as compared to the highest level of 4 per cent six years ago. But, we cannot prevent good people from leaving,” Datt said.

More laboratories, floors and seats have been added at its central research laboratories at Bangalore and Ghaziabad, aimed at retaining talent, he added.