HFCL eyes growth from overseas sales, sets Rs 10,000-cr revenue target

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Domestic telecom gear maker HFCL is betting big on growth from overseas sales and uptake of defence supplies as the company looks to become a Rs 10,000-crore revenue enterprise, a top company official said.

Mahendra Nahata Managing Director HFCL during the company's recent investor call said the firm had an order book of Rs 10,000 crore as on December 31, 2024.

"We are increasing our presence by appointing our own employees, distributors, and dealers in key global markets. Our goal is to achieve a substantial rise in export revenue from our optic fibre segment, with a significant portion of revenue coming from international markets in the coming years. Additionally, we aim for a considerable share of our telecom segment revenue to be export-driven," Nahata said.

He said the company's board has granted approval for a strategic expansion into Europe by way of setting up an optical fibre cable manufacturing facility in Poland.

"The European Commission on December 16, 2024 announced the imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on all other Indian OFC manufacturers, reaffirming HFCL's exemption," he said.

The company has posted revenue of around Rs 1,012 crore in the December 2024 quarter.

Nahata said HFCL is likely to add a revenue of Rs 350-400 crore in the current quarter but may not achieve the target of Rs 2,000 crore set for the fiscal year due to shortfall in supply of some equipment on account of delay in customer readiness, trials, etc.

In the December quarter, the company bagged an advance work order worth about Rs 2,501.30 crore for the design, supply, construction, installation, upgrade, operation, and maintenance of the middle-mile network of BharatNet Phase III in the Punjab Telecom Circle.

In addition, the company has also secured advance purchase orders worth Rs 2,167.65 crore from Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd for the supply and maintenance of optical fibre cables, telecom gears for BharatNet Phase III in Uttar Pradesh (East) Telecom Circle, and Uttar Pradesh (West) Telecom Circle.

The company during the quarter inaugurated a defence manufacturing unit in Hosur.

Nahata said the company expects to receive a "reasonable size of orders" for defence gears and revenue should also start flowing in from the next financial year but also mentioned that approval for defence orders takes a lot of time.

He added that the company has received a letter of intent for defence orders worth Rs 800 crore that has been delayed due to the approval process and is making efforts to complete it by April or May this year.