PSUs plan take-off: HAL to go in for Rs 20,000-cr makeover

BEML,meanwhile,announced plans to set up a Rs 350-crore aerospace engineering facility while BE indicated negotiations for tie-ups with global defence radar majors like the British Thales and the Israeli Rafael in a push to achieve a target of $300 million to $500 million offset business in the next three to five years from current marks of $60 million.

Incidentally,Defence Minister A K Antony had stated at the opening day of the show that “all defence public sector units in the country are in the process of modernisation in a phased manner”. The major PSUs were gearing up to be competitive in the global defence market,he said.

According to HAL’s finance director D Shivamurthi said the company would use internal accruals to fund the Rs 20,000-crore expansion. HAL is expected to create a new manufacturing facility employing nearly 3,500 people for uptake of the MMRCA deal when it is clinched. The PSU now has 19 production divisions and 10 research units. HAL now has Rs 1 lakh crore worth of orders deliverable over 10 years,Shivamurthi said.