HAL sales up six percent in fiscal 2014

Hindustan-Aeronautics-LtdBangalore, April 3 : State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) posted Rs. 15,180 crore sales turnover for the just-concluded fiscal 2013-14, registering a marginal six percent growth over previous fiscal (2012-13) at Rs. 14,324 crore.

"We rolled out 60 aircraft and helicopters, achieved the initial operational clearance for the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas fighter and filed 209 patents during the fiscal under review," HAL chairman R. K. Tyagi said in a statement here.

The defence behemoth's operating profit, however, shot up 38 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs. 1,651 crore from Rs. 1,194 in 2012-13.

The company's value of production has gone up 7.7 percent YoY to Rs. 15,296 crore last fiscal from Rs. 14,202 crore year ago.

"We are preparing the company for 2020 and beyond having crossed Rs. 15,000 crore in turnover in FY 2014," Tyagi noted.

Other highlights of the fiscal are sea level, night level and high altitude trials for the Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), induction of indigenously manufactured Hawk advanced jet trainer by INS 'Dega' at Visakhapatnam in coastal Andhra and dedication of advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv for mineral exploration.

"We also delivered aerospace structures to the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and crew module structure assembly for the human spaceflight program of the Indian space agency," the company said in the statement.(IANS)