Will become Atmanirbhar in missile systems within next 4 years: Bharat Dynamics

In Pic : DRDO developed QR-SAM

The government had announced reforms in defence production as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced to revive a pandemic-shuttered economy. The government additionally unveiled a slew of measures for the defence sector in the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” package. ET NOW spoke to the management of Bharat Dynamics, India’s only missile manufacturing company, that makes the surface to air missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, torpedoes and underwater weapons among systems, to understand the defence manufacturing opportunity for the country and plans to make India’s defence sector Atmanirbhar (self-reliant). Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd) CMD, Bharat Dynamics lauded the government’s efforts for policy changes within the defence sector. “The government has been providing major support," he said. Mishra mentioned that in missile systems, India shall be Atmanirbhar in 4 years. He mentioned that the Defence Ministry had approved Astra Missile for exports. “We have been working on global reach and have two contracts for underwater weapons. We are eyeing Export Opportunities for Akash Missile. We plan to use the foreign office for export to various countries. We have signed an MoU with Russia for strategic parts.” The company is eyeing the European Market for exporting defence equipment. The company will likely see ‘Astra’- the first Beyond Visual Range, Air-to-Air Missile order by the end of the year according to Commodore Mishra. The company recently signed License Agreement and Transfer of Technology with DRDO (DRDL) for Akash Missile Weapon System (Indian Army Variant). The company also signed MoU with IIT Hyderabad to upgrade its equipment and said the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) is developing several indigenous missiles. The company witnessed healthy execution in Q4 as revenues grew 64% and operating profits jumped smartly as margins expanded. While the pandemic has disrupted some of its operations, the order book has been flat at the end FY20 at around Rs. 7400 cr. Despite this the management is confident of growth in the order value and financials. “We expect an order value of `2500 cr in the next 4-5 years. We expect to double our revenue from operations in the next 3-4 years, said Commodore Mishra.