Defence related stocks in focus; Bharat Dynamics, HAL gain up to 4%

Shares of defence-related companies are in focus in early morning deals at the bourses with state-owned companies Bharat Dynamics and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) gaining by upto 4 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday unveiled the new Defence Acquisition Procedure of 2020 (DAP 2020), which will govern the procurement of defence equipment from the capital budget. It will supersede the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2016 from October 1, the Business Standard reported. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

Shares of Bharat Dynamics gained 4 per cent to Rs 311, while HAL was up 2 per cent at Rs 795 on the BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.50 per cent at 38,167 points at 09:29 am. However, both these stocks underperformed the market by falling by up to 30 per cent in the past one month till Monday.

Earlier, in August, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced an import embargo list of 101 defence items to be progressively implemented between 2020 and 2024 to boost indigenisation of defence production providing a big push to “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Make in India” Initiatives. Companies like Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), BEML, Mahindra Defence Systems (MDSL), Tata Advance Systems (TASL) could benefit given their varied product portfolio.

"Though the embargo list is sentimentally positive, the execution on ground in terms of rapid indigenisation, pick-up in ordering, which usually takes bit longer and get delays, allocation of funds to defence capital expenditure and working capital management would be key monitorables to achieve the desired results," ICICI Securities said in August 2020 report.