Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL) CMD, M V Gowtama’s interacts with BW Defence editor Manish Kumar Jha where he speaks about the company’s ambitious growth plan and his focus on exports & offsets as one of the thrust areas.

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL)’s turnover touched Rs.10,000 crore mark for the fiscal 2017-18, registering 17 per cent annual growth. What is the growth story?

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has achieved the landmark turnover of more than           Rs.10,000 crores (provisional and unaudited) during the financial year 2017-18, registering a growth of 14% over the previous year’s turnover of Rs.8,825 crores. 

Some of the flagship projects executed during the year include Integrated Air Command & Control System, Weapon Locating Radar, Hand Held Thermal Imager, Akash Weapon System for Army, Naval Fire Control System, Integrated Communication System, 3-D Tactical Control Radar, Electronic Warfare Systems, L-70 Gun Upgrade, Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail and Schilka. 

BEL owes this achievement to the commitment and dedication of all its employees, esteemed customers, inspection agencies, Ministry of Defence, DRDO labs, partners, suppliers and all other stakeholders who contributed to this milestone. 

BEL was recently awarded the Best R&D Innovation Award among the leading PSUs of India. Could you please elaborate on some of the research programs undertaken? How much is spent on R&D?

R&D has been the main focus area of our company for increasing indigenisation and value addition in our products/systems. The total expenditure on R&D as a percentage of turnover during the year was 9.8%, which is one of the highest among the defence PSUs. It is our constant effort on indigenous development that has led us to achieve 89% of our turnover from indigenous products. Only 11% of our revenues came from products manufactured through(Transfer of  ToT from foreign Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). 

R&D Divisions of BEL continued to actively interact with the National Labs, namely, DRDO, ISRO, CSIR, C-DAC, C-DOT and leading academic institutions like IITs, NITs and IISc for the development of specialized indigenous technologies. 

Air Traffic Control System (Software), Advanced integrated VLF / MF / HF / VHF / UHF and SATCOM communication system for Quick & Reliable Ship-Ship, Ship-Shore, Ship-Air communication, Thermal Imaging sights for Fire Control Systems, COMINT Rx interface, EW analysis & deployment, control software, Homodyne receivers in both high and low bands for Ground Based intelligence gathering Systems, Long Range border surveillance system, Powering Defence systems for field (shelter) deployment, Motor based stabilized pedestal for Fire Control Systems, Vacuum Interrupters and Long Range Surveillance Radar (for export) are some of the recent, successful research programmes, which have led to indigenisation and cost savings. 

What is your outlook in terms of domestic and international orders for the next fiscal (2018-19)?

Defence segment continues to be BEL’s main business and provides about 85% of revenues. BEL is targeting a healthy growth of 12-15% during 2018-19 with a healthy order book of around Rs.40, 000 crores. Segments like Radar and Missile systems, Communication and Network Centric Systems, Tank Electronics, Gun upgrades, Electro Optic systems and Electronic Warfare & Avionics systems will continue to drive the Company’s growth in the coming years. Modernisation and creating several world-class facilities for R&D, Testing, Production and Skill development are planned for achieving the targeted growth. In the non-defence segment, BEL is pursuing business in the field of Solar, Homeland Security, Smart City elements, Space, Satellite Integration & Cyber Security.

BEL achieved an export sale of US$ 26.3 Million during the year 2017-18. Major countries of exports include Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives, Mauritius, Vietnam, Indonesia, Israel, Swaziland, Germany, Sweden and USA. The major products / systems exported during the year include Advanced Composite Communication System (ACCS), Compact Airborne Surveillance System (CoMPASS), Bharti Radio, Cable looms Mechanical parts, Coastal Surveillance System and Radar & V/UHF Radio.

Currently, BEL is pursuing opportunities worth about US$ 1.0 Billion for the next 4 to 5 years. BEL is pursuing possibilities to export products and systems to friendly countries with the approval of MoD. Currently, the Coastal Surveillance Systems, Akash Missile Systems, Naval Air Surveillance Radars, Sonars, Night Vision Devices and Communication Radios are being promoted to South East Asian, Middle East and African countries. BEL is also focusing on opportunities in the areas of offset obligations of foreign vendors in various RFPs of the Ministry of Defence with focus on ‘Build to Print’, ‘Build to Spec’ and ‘Buyer Nominated Equipment’.  BEL has signed MoUs with many foreign companies and is working with major Aerospace and Defence companies to establish long-term supply chain relationships and to become offset partners.  

Among the flagship projects the company delivered during the fiscal were the Integrated Air Command and Control System and Akash Weapon System to the Army. Besides these, what are the other areas of excellence that will further set the benchmark for BEL?

The other big projects executed by BEL during the year include Weapon Locating Radar, Hand Held Thermal Imager with Laser Range Finder, Lynx U2, Integrated Communication System, 3-D Tactical Control Radar, Varuna ESM System, L-70 Gun Upgrade, Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail. 

Some of the major products / systems introduced recently include Ground Based Mobile Elint System, ACCS for P15B, Radio On The Move for QRSAM, Multi-Purpose Reflex Weapon Sight, Light Weight Portable Laser Target Designator, Vehicle mounted XBIS, Cdr TI Sight for T-72, HHTI Bi Ocular, Gunner TI Sight for T-90, Bharani MkII Radar, Mine Field Recording System, RRF Upgrade (Low Band), Secure Phone-SAG graded and Multi-Channel Encryptor Unit.

Some of the major achievements of the company in the recent past include setting up of 16 MW Solar PV Power Plant at Ordnance Factory, Medak, inauguration of BEL Academy to address the training needs of BEL employees, as well as of its customers and vendors/partners, state-of-the-art and first of its kind facilities like System Level EMC Test and Near Field Test Range facilities. BEL has also set up a state-of-the-art Electronic Artillery Fuze manufacturing facility at BEL-Pune.

BEL has filed applications for 25 Patents in 2017-18 as against 20 patents filed in 2016-17. As many as 71 technical papers were published by scientists and R&D engineers of BEL in various National and International journals / seminars / conferences. 

BEL has had a major thrust on exports. Please tell us about your plan and various markets that you are eyeing.

BEL has a dedicated International Marketing Division for providing an increased thrust for harnessing the export potential of defence electronics products and systems, which represent its core area of business. 

Realising the need for exploring options to ensure sustenance and growth of the Company under the changing competitive Defence business environment, BEL has identified Exports & Offsets as one of the thrust areas.

Currently, BEL is pursuing opportunities worth about US$ 1.0 Billion for the next 4-5 years. BEL is pursuing possibilities to export products and systems to friendly countries with the approval of MoD. Currently, the Coastal Surveillance Systems, Akash Missile Systems, Naval Air Surveillance Radars, Sonars, Night Vision Devices and Communication Radios are being promoted to South East Asian, Middle East and African countries. BEL is also focusing on opportunities in the areas of offset obligations of foreign vendors in various RFPs of the Ministry of Defence with focus on ‘Build to Print’, ‘Build to Spec’ and ‘Buyer Nominated Equipment’.   

BEL has signed MoUs with many foreign companies and is working with major Aerospace and Defence companies to establish long-term supply chain relationships and to become offset partners.  

BEL opened an overseas marketing office in Vietnam in June this year and is planning to setup similar marketing offices in other countries shortly.