The Hindu Business Line : BEL eyes 30% share of defence offsets pie

Bangalore April 17 Bharat Electronics Ltd aims to capture 20-30 per cent of the $10-billion defence offsets pie, its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V.V.R. Sastry, said on Tuesday.

The defence PSU, which ended 2006-07 with a provisional turnover of Rs 3,960 crore, has identified offsets and contract manufacturing in defence and hi-end electronics as growth drivers. It signed MoUs with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, EADS and Northrop Grumman during the February air-show and is talking to other companies.

"There is an estimated $10-billion offsets opportunity over six years and we would like to work at least 20-30 per cent of that market — in manufacturing, systems, development work. We are discussing the type of work (we would do) and the products we will be supplying; this depends on the contracts (the MNCs) would win in India," Mr Sastry said at the company's annual news conference.

The MNCs are convinced of BEL's design, manufacturing, quality and customer support competences, according to Mr Sastry, who took charge in February this year.

Offsets and contract manufacturing at its facilities (that have 20 per cent spare capacity) should propel BEL to become a $1-billion (Rs 4,500-crore) company during the current fiscal and double that turnover by 2011-12, he said. It would also result in a nearly ten-fold growth in export turnover — to $100 million (around Rs 450 crore) by 2010. Its 2006-07 exports were $11.6 million (around Rs 52 crore).

BEL, which is awaiting the formal navaratna title, is scouting for technology partners in thermal imaging, avionics and solar systems, Mr S.K. Mehta, Director, R&D, said.

Non-defence work

With a 76:24 mix of defence and civil products, BEL is eyeing non-defence opportunities such as IP-based, Wi-Max based network solutions and total solutions for private FM broadcasters. It has initiated the development of high potential GSM antenna and Wi-Max antenna.

It also sees opportunities in Satcom, CDMA, radio communication and networking, and e-governance. The Rs 138-crore order for EVMs (electronic voting machines) and the Rs 500-crore composite billing for MTNL were the main civil deals.