India’s state-owned defense electronics enterprise Bharat Electronics Ltd., BEL, has increased sales by 17 percent in fiscal year 2017, according to Venkateswara Gowtama Mannava, chairman and managing director.
Gowtama notified that the company has projected the sales to grow from the current level of $1.35 billion to $1.54 billion next year.
He further mentioned that BEL will create new business partnerships with both domestic and overseas defense companies and enforce quick decision making within the company in order to remain competitive in the Indian defense market.
The market will become much stronger, he said, because the government has made much quicker decisions and the (procurement) cycle time is shorter. Many of the pending cases have been resolved.
The list of weapons projects executed for the Indian defense forces include the short-range surface-to-air missile system Akash, a handheld thermal imager with laser range finder systems, a 3-D tactical control radar, a weapon locating radar, upgraded L/70 air defense guns, fire control systems, hull mounted sonars, radio relays systems, major sub-systems of integrated air command and control systems and ship-borne electronic warfare systems. Gowtama announced that the company has an order of $6.15 billion.
By Baishakhi Dutta
