The Hindu Business Line : INS <I>Viraat</I> to showcase Dhruv in overseas markets

HOW would you, if you were a public enterprise, try to sell abroad a product that is not the latest car, shampoo or scrumptious bite, but a Rs 30-crore helicopter?

Here is no case for media jingles, billboards and telemarketers. Yet, being a defence entity must have made it a tad easy. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd saw its chance when the aircraft carrier INS Viraat was setting sail on a goodwill mission to the South-East and simply asked its naval cousins to do a bit of showcasing for its baby.

`Dhruv' (meaning the Polestar) is HAL's 14-seater, civilian-cum-military helicopter. Having produced it in the last three years for the IAF, Navy, Army, Coast Guard and sold or leased some more to ONGC and a few State Governments, HAL has begun to pitch it at Asia-Pacific, Latin American and other export markets.

And so, from July 19 to August 1, Dhruv will go where Viraat will take it, starting from Visakhapatnam and calling at the ports of Singapore, Malaysia's Kelang and Jakarta. Four of HAL officer and engineers including two test pilots are being flown to Singapore to talk about it, fly it and complete the sales pitch.

"Viraat did give us a unique opportunity to show our helicopter to potential buyers such as the military, police, Coast Guard and others in these countries. This way, we don't have to spend on fuel to fly it to these places," said Air Commodore (retired) B. Banerjee, General Manager (Marketing), HAL.

Dhruv is marked some 15 per cent less than the rest which, HAL frequently asserts, is one of the finest to be flying around in the 5 - 5.5 tonne category. The civil variant has been certified for VIP transport, heli-tourism, disaster-time evacuation and also targeted at hospitals as air ambulances or for inter-island transport for these countries.

Dhruv is the newest kid on the world copter block, trying to win a place in the league of old brands from Bell, Eurocopter, Agusta Westland and Sikorsky. A tentative market survey holds out some promise for HAL's copters.

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