India's HAL and BEL post record sales for FY 2020/21

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) – India's two biggest defence firms – have both posted record levels of sales despite challenges related to Covid-19, new filings to the Bombay Stock Exchange have shown.

HAL said its audited and consolidated revenue in fiscal year (FY) 2020/21 reached INR227.55 billion (USD3.05 billion) and that its net profit was INR32.33 billion. These represent year-on-year increases of 6% and 14% respectively.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited recorded annual revenue of INR227.5 billion (USD3 billion) in fiscal year 2020/21. (Janes World Defence Industry)

BEL said in filings that its audited and consolidated revenue was INR138.49 billion and net profit was INR20.98 billion, increases of 10% and 15% respectively.

At the end of FY 2020/21, HAL and BEL's total assets were worth INR518.71 billion and INR290.53 billion respectively. In terms of the size of their order books, HAL registered INR806.39 billion while BEL's was valued at INR534.34 billion.

Commenting on its performance in FY 2020/21, HAL said that Covid-19 disrupted sales efforts and supply chains during the first half of the year but that “near normalcy” returned in the second half, which ended late March. The impact of India's second Covid-19 wave, which started March and peaked in early May, will not be significant, it said.

BEL similarly said that the pandemic has had a short-term impact on its business operations and performance. In 2020/21 some of BEL's major projects included the production of software-defined radios and communication equipment, radars, sonars, torpedo decoy systems, electronic warfare systems, and networking products.