BEL: EmpowEring india’s armEd forcEs
Bharat Electronics Limited has come a long way and is now a Navratna PSU and India’s foremost defence electronics company boasting of over 350 products.
Guided by a farsighted vision to make the country self-reliant in defence electronics, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) was set up in Bangalore in 1954 by the Government of India under the Ministry of Defence (MoD). From a humble beginning, BEL has come a long way. It is now a Navratna PSU and India’s foremost defence electronics company.
BEL is a multi-product, multi-technology, multi-unit conglomerate boasting of over 350 products in the areas of Radars, Missile Systems, Military Communications, Naval Systems, Electronic Warfare and Avionics, C4I Systems, Electro Optics, Tank Electronics & Gun/ Weapon System Upgrades, Solar Photovoltaic Systems, electronic components and civilian products. While defence continues to contribute to nearly 80% to 85% of its revenue, BEL has been utilising the spin-off technologies to expand its horizons beyond defence electronics and touch a chord with the common man through civilian products like solar traffic signals and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). BEL’s reliable and tamper-proof EVMs have redefined voting in India, facilitating free and fair elections.
BEL’s customers include the Army, Navy, Air Force, Paramilitary, Coast Guard, Police, Doordarshan, All India Radio, Department of Telecommunications and consumers of professional electronic components. Domain knowledge, capability to design and manufacture products that suit the exacting standards of the Indian defence services, and longterm customer support — these form BEL’s core competence. With over 56 years of experience in the field of defence electronics, BEL is well aware of the exacting demands of the armed forces, including the operating conditions. Defence equipment has to function in very harsh and varied environments. Not only must the electronic systems be able to withstand these extremes, but also function dependably.
Research and development has been one of BEL’s core strengths, helping it maintain it’s pre-eminence in defence electronics. The company has been spending about 8% of its turnover on R&D. BEL also collaborates with other development agencies like DRDO, ISRO, CSIR, C-DOT, C-DAC and leading academic institutions like IITs, IISc and NITs for joint development of indigenous technology, providing concurrent engineering support and Transfer of Technology (ToT) projects. All such initiatives have saved the country foreign exchange by way of import substitution through indigenously developed defence equipment and systems. BEL has a three-layer R&D setup comprising Development and Engineering (D&E) Divisions at its nine units, Central D&E supporting other D&E divisions, and Central Research Labs (CRLs) at Bangalore and Delhi for carrying out futuristic and cutting-edge research.
BEL has extensive infrastructure — its manufacturing network is spread over nine units located across the country. In addition to standalone products, BEL has developed expertise in customised solutions for the defence forces. It offers Command, Control, Communication & Computer Intelligence (C4I) solutions and Missile Systems. BEL provides after sales support whenever and wherever required, irrespective of time or terrain. For instance, its support to the defence forces during the Kargil operation was well appreciated. BEL registered a growth of 12% in 2015-16. The company crossed the Rs 7,500 crore mark and recorded a sales turnover of Rs 7,522 crore (audited) in 2015-16 compared to Rs 6,695 crore in the previous year. The Profit Before Tax was Rs 1,809 crore for 201516 as against Rs 1,467 crore in 2014-15. The Profit After Tax was Rs 1,358 crore for 201516 as against Rs 1,167 crore in 2014-15. Exports registered a growth of 47% as the turnover increased from $58 million in 2014-15 to $85 million in 2015-16. The Turnover Per Employee was Rs 76.38 lakh.
The Value Added per Employee was Rs 33.49 lakh. BEL has an Order Book value of Rs 32,022 crore as on 1 April 2016. The company’s investment in R&D — Rs 704 crore — paid off as 86% of the turnover accrued from indigenous technology. The sales from defence business was 82%. An important milestone of the year was the induction of the Akash Missile System into Indian Air Force and Indian Army. BEL achieved “Excellent” MoU rating for 2014-15. Some of the significant orders executed during the year include supply of Akash Weapon System ( Indian Army & Indian Air Force), 3-D Tactical Control Radar (Army), Schilka Upgrade (Army), Passive Night Vision Devices (Army), Low Level Light Weight Radar (Air Force), Fire Control System (Navy), Integrated Sonar Suite (Navy), Ship Data Network (Navy), New Generation Sonars (Navy) and L Band Surveillance Radar for Export (Myanmar). Some of the new products/ systems introduced during the year were 3-D Surveillance Radar, L-Band 2-D Air Surveillance Radar, Coastal Surveillance Radar, Software Defined Radio (Naval Version), Tactical Access Switch, Advanced Composite Communication System, Citizen Verification Device, Integrated Sonar Suite, Integrated EW System for Mountain Terrain, Laser Warning System and Gunner Sight for T90 Tank. Significant orders which the company received during the year included Integrated Air Command Control System, Weapon Locating Radar, Hand Held Thermal Imager with LRF, Ground Based Mobile ELINT, Integrated Communication System, USHUS, Electronic Fuze, Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle and Shakti System for P71. BEL achieved export sales of $85 million. The indigenously developed Naval Surveillance Radar was exported for the first time. Other products exported included TI based Electro Optic Fire Control Systems, CoMPASS, Electronic Voting Machine, Communication Equipment, Radar Warning Receiver and Electro-Mechanical parts. BEL has an export order book of $120 million as on 1 April 2016, which includes an offset order book of $14 million. R&D initiatives taken during the year include release of a 3-year R&D Plan for 2016-19 with additional data on collaborative R&D efforts, filing of 12 patent applications, publishing of 98 technical papers by R&D engineers in national and international journals, formation of Control Electronics R&D to address Missile Electronics business, and R&D focus on indigenous product / systems development to meet requirement of the new IDDM category in DPP 2016. The Software group at Chennai was accredited with CMMi Level 3. New manufacturing initiatives include a Defence Systems Integration Complex at Palasamudram, Andhra Pradesh, Additional Test Bed Facility at Bengaluru for Missile and Weapon System Integration, Near Field Test Range and EMI/EMC Test Facilities for High Tech Radars at Ghaziabad, Additive Manufacturing Facility at Bengaluru for product development with reduced cycle time, X-ray Inspection facility at Chennai for testing of high end Printed Circuit Boards and Environmental Stress Screening Chamber at Chennai Unit. All units/SBUs of BEL have been certified for ISO 90012008 QMS & ISO 140012004 EMS standards and seven units/SBUs certified for AS 9100 Aerospace standard. The Central Software Department Group at Bangalore Complex is CMMi level 5 certified. A new recognition titled “Quality Recognition Award” has been instituted in 2015-16. Six Sigma projects, Suggestion Scheme and Quality Control Circles continued to take BEL’s Quality movement forward. As many as 156 engineers qualified as CRE (Certified Reliability Engineers) and 39 engineers were certified as CQE (Certified Quality Engineers) by the American Society of Quality. Altogether 84 PMPs (Project Management Programmes) were certified by the Project Management Institute during 2015-16. BEL has been doing its bit to promote the Government’s “Make in India” initiative and as a result, 86% of sales revenue accrued from indigenous technology. In all, 40% of input materials were sourced from Indian private industries. BEL is focusing more on core areas and R&D, even as all non-core areas are being outsourced to Indian industries including MSMEs. A long-term Outsourcing & Indigenisation Policy has been released. Nodal officers for outsourcing and vendor development have been nominated. Annually, around 800 new indigenous vendors are added. The procurement from MSMEs increased to 20% during 2015-16 as against 8% during 2014-15. SOP for use of BEL’s test facilities by private entities is uploaded on the BEL website. With a total capacity of 5.5 MW wind energy plants, 80 lakh units of power generated were wheeled during 2015-16. The new 8.4 MW plant is expected to generate about 180 lakh units. About 260 lakh units of green energy is expected to be generated during 2016-17. BEL has taken up sustainable development projects in the areas of air conditioning, air compressor, lighting management system and natural daylight harvesting. Awards received by BEL during 2015-16 include Raksha Mantri’s Awards in the categories of “Excellence in Performance”, “Best Performing Division”, “Indigenisation”, “Design Effort”, and “Best Performance in Exports”, Dun & Bradstreet’s ‘ India’s Top PSU Award 2015, ELCINA-EFY Awards for Quality and Exports, and Mentor Graphics Silicon India Leadership Award for the Best VLSI / Embedded Design in Government sector. BEL will continue its indigenisation efforts in keeping with the “Make in India” initiative, including in developing Radars, Missile Systems, Communication & Network Centric Systems, Tank Electronics, Gun Upgrades, Electro-Optic Systems and Electronic Warfare & Avionics Systems. BEL is pursuing business opportunities in solar energy, homeland security, smart cards and telecom. Plans are in place to retain the leadership position in strategic electronics.