HAL ranked 45th in the world

BY A CORRESPONDENT
July 24, 2006

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has climbed 6 notches up to reach the 45th position in the list of top 100 Defence Companies in the world. The list, released by US-based Defence News, has Lockheed Martin in No 1 position, followed by Boeing, Northrop Grumman, BAe Systems and Raytheon battling for the top 5 slots.

The ratings are given based on the company’s sales and turnover and HAL’s leap forward from the No 51st slot (last year) to 45th is being attributed to a series of upgradation programmes and ongoing new projects.

Reacting to the rating, HAL Chairman Mr Ashok K. Baweja said: “This is really encouraging for us and we are hopeful of breaking into the Top 25-35 next year. We will further our rankings next year and our current order book position is just a pointer to that,” Mr D. Shivamurti, Director (Finance), HAL, said.

HAL has joined the select-group of elite billion dollar companies by recording annual sales of over Rs 5,335 crores during the financial year ending March 31, 2006. The company has recorded a growth of 18.5% in turnover over the previous year. The Value of Production has also gone up by 16.4% at Rs 5,750 crores, while the company’s profit (PBT) soared to Rs 1,250 crores, which is an increase of over 32% over its last year’s performance.

Dhruv, IJT at Farnborough:

Two products from the stables of HAL – the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv and the Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) were displayed at the recent Farnborough Air Show. Dhruv and IJT participated in the daily flying displays, while another Dhruv was set aside exclusively for customer demonstration flights. The Dhruv and the IJT were positioned at the static display area.

HAL held meetings with aviation majors to explore business opportunities in the area of aircraft structures, castings & forgings, engine components and design. Mr Baweja is leading the Farnborough mission team consisting of senior officials, test pilots, designers and engineers.