BEL profits rises by 25 percent but orderbook declines

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), the public sector Navratna company specialising in defence electronics, reported a profit after tax of Rs.1,167 crore for 2014-15, a top company official said on Wednesday.

Profit after tax rose by 25.2 percent from Rs.932 crore in 2013-14.

"We had a turnover of Rs.6,695 crore in 2014-15 registering a growth of 8 percent from Rs.6,174 crore in 2013-14," said its CMD, S.K.Sharma.

Profit before tax rose from Rs.1,175 crore to Rs.1,467 crore for the period.

However, BEL's orderbook suffered a decline of 7.8 percent at Rs.21,600 crore for the fiscal as against Rs.23,452 crore in 2013-2014, or down Rs.1,852 crore.

Sharma however downplayed the development. "A large number of orders are in the pipeline. We have several major projects which will fructify in the next one or two years. Our orderbook continues to grow," he said.

BEL increased its R&D expenditure from Rs.467 crore, or 7.56 percent of the turnover, in 2013-14 to Rs.549 crore in 2014-15 or 8.2 percent of the turnover, Sharma said.

Exports clocked a rise of 38 percent in 2014-15 at $58 million, compared to $42 million in 2013-14.

BEL's turnover from indigenous technology was around 80 percent while the turnover from defence business alone stood at 87 percent.

As many as 115 new projects were initiated through collaborative R&D with the value standing at Rs.120 crore.

In 2014-15, BEL executed and supplied the following major orders: Akash weapon system, passive night vision devices, 3-D tactical control radar, missile warning system, Schilka gun tank upgrade, laser range finder, hull-mounted sonar exported to Myanmar, shipborne early warning system Sanket to the navy and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd and fire control system 'Lynx'.