BEL net dips 16 percent in 2011-12

Bangalore, April 24 (IANS) State-run defence behemoth Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) Tuesday reported provisional net profit of Rs.725 crore during fiscal 2011-12, posting 16 percent lower growth over the last fiscal.

"We could deliver only 15 Akash surface-to-air missiles to the Indian Air Force (IAF) as against the order of 96 missiles during the fiscal under review due to non-supply of critical systems by our consortium partners. It was one of the major reasons for our modest growth and dip in margins," BEL chairman and managing director Anil Kumar said here. The profit in the last fiscal (2010-11) was Rs.861 crore

"Our net profit declined due to nearly flat revenue growth and inability to execute and delivery some defence orders. We also did not win some contracts through bids in a tough competitive environment," Kumar told reporters here.

Profit before tax also declined to Rs.975 crore from Rs.1,161 crore year ago, registering a decline of 16 percent year-on-year (YoY).

The defence behemoth reported Rs.5700 crore turnover for the fiscal under review (FY 2012) as against Rs.5,530 crore in FY 2011, registering a modest growth of three percent YoY.

The company also missed the sales target of Rs.6,200 crore it had set for the fiscal under review, as it could not complete the projects in time for want of clearances and due to unavailability of items required.

"Our supplies to the defence sector accounted for 73 percent of our sales turnover as against 80 percent in previous fiscal (2010-11) due to lesser orders and delay in executing some projects," Kumar said.

Setting an ambitious target of Rs.6,300 crore for this fiscal (2012-13), Kumar said as on April 1, the order book value had increased by Rs.2,148 crore to Rs.25,748 crore from Rs.23,600 crore in fiscal 2010-11.

Similarly, exports declined to $38 million in 2011-12 from $42 million year ago (2010-11), during which it saw a jump of 75 percent over the previous fiscal (2009-10) at $24 million.

"Besides Akash weapon system, we have also delivered coastal surveillance system, central acquisition radar, (CAR-Rohini), communication sets & systems, night vision devices, ship-borne systems, ground-based electronic intelligence system, new generation sonars and jammers to the defence services," Kumar pointed out.

To the civilian sector, the company provided services for the socio-economic & caste census and the national population register.

"We had designed and developed a low-cost tablet personal computer (PC) in four months and supplied 600,000 to the central ministry of rural development for the census exercise," Kumar noted.

Other products rolled out during the fiscal include digital radio trunking system, integrated anti-submarine warfare system, electro opto fire control system, integrated radio line modem and remotely operated vehicle.