Ahead of divestment in HAL, the Centre has cleared the revamp of the defence public sector company’s board.

“The IPO process of HAL was slow initially due to two main hurdles – restructuring of board and confidentiality clauses, both have been resolved. Now every thing has been set right and the company is expected to get listed in a year’s time,” said RK Tyagi, Chairman, HAL.

Without disclosing the value of the company, Tyagi said company is expected to divest 10 per cent initially and later will divest more to maintain 75:25 ratio (government to public) of share holding.

At present, HAL board has 17 Directors (Nine whole-time and six independent). The revised structure provides for 50:50 ratio of independent to government. This means it will have five Directors (including the Chairman and Managing Director) from the company, two government nominees and seven independent Directors (which includes one woman) on the board.

The restructured HAL board is expected to be in place by April 1.

As for the sensitive and security-related clauses in HAL’s disclosures to SEBI, Ashok Tandon, Executive Director (company secretary), HAL, said: “The competent authorities have cleared certain disclosures and have allowed the defence aircraft manufacturer to get listed like other PSUs such as Bharat Electronics.”

Two airports

Tyagi said he is keen to open the HAL airport for shorthaul flights and has sought the assistance of the Karnataka Government to reopen the airport.

The argument of HAL is that several major cities globally have two airports; Bengaluru may also reap the benefits of reopening the HAL airport.

At present, the company has been catering to private chartered flights, with close to 30 landings each day. It is also providing facilities for the Indian Air Force. The HAL airport was closed for civilian operations in 2008 with the opening of the international airport in Devanahalli. “So far the company has suffered a loss of around ₹1,500 crore in revenues from the closure,” the Chairman said.

Key projects

Tyagi said the company is currently handling many key projects for both the Indian Air force and Indian Navy such as development of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft , Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters , and the indigenous production of Russian-origin Su-30MKI fighter planes.

The other projects the company is keen to handle are the indigenous production of medium multi-role combat aircraft and the fifth-generation fighter aircraft, light utility helicopters and multi-role transport aircraft.

Talking about helicopters, Tyagi said HAL is ready to meet the demand. “The company so far has manufactured over 800 helicopters at the Bangalore complex. Here, we plan to invest ₹500 crore to modernise and augment the facility.”

The Karnataka Government has allotted 600 acres of land to the company near Tumukuru.

“HAL is planning to establish Greenfield facilities for all future projects. In this regard, land acquisition has been completed and the company is expected to invest about ₹4,000 crore,” Tyagi said.

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