HAL achieved a new financial high with a turnover of Rs 14,316 crores in the financial year 2012-13(provisional figures). The profit before tax for the FY 2012-13 stands at Rs. 3,471 crores. The company has declared an interim dividend to the tune of Rs. 823 crores, 683% of equity base of Rs 120.50 crores for the financial year. The performance is expected to earn the Company, the ‘Excellent’ score under the MoU with Government of India for the year. “We strive to live up to the expectations of our stakeholders”, says Dr R K Tyagi, Chairman HAL. The company’s return on shareholders’ investment is impressive, comparable to some of the best companies anywhere, he added.
The defence major, being a technology driven company continues its thrust on R&D, by incurring Rs.1749 crores, 12% of its turnover towards it. The company filed a record 32 patents in 2012-13 to reinforce and protect its intellectual property developed at large investment.
The year witnessed landmark events such as handing over of the first weaponized Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) “Rudra” to Indian Army, export of Cheetah helicopters to Republic of Surinam and Do-228 light transport aircraft to Seychelles and the first flight of Jaguar DARIN-III upgrade and LCA Naval prototypes. The last of the limited series production LCA took to skies this year.
Backed with long experience of being with military aviation and extensive infrastructure, HAL plans to foray into civil segment which is forecast to have promising growth. Separate operations are planned to handle civil segment including suitable partnerships with private Indian industries and foreign operators.
The company aims to achieve business excellence while pursuing its mandate of nation building. It has plans to add capacity to handle the future programs like Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). The LUH has gone past the design phase with successful realization of the Ground Test Vehicle, MTA has entered the conceptual design phase and the FGFA will be entering the detail design stage, all encouraging signs for the future of aerospace in India.
During the year HAL focus areas included building partnerships and relationships –be it with employees, shareholders, customers, value chain & business partners, industry leaders, academic institutions or the government as industry regulator.