HAL 34th among Top 100 defence firms

Bangalore, Aug 6: Indian Defence aviation major, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is now ranked 34th among the 100 top defence establishments across the world.

According to a list released by a US-based Defence News magazine, HAL had improved its position significantly to emerge 34th from 45th in the previous ranking.

The top five slots are held by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAe Systems, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon respectively.

The ratings were based on the company's sales and turnover and HAL's leap to the 34th position was being attributed to a series of upgradation programmes and ongoing new projects, HAL said in a release here.

Commenting on the rating, HAL Chairman Ashok K Baweja said the company hoped to break into the top 25 next year. ''Our current order book position is just a pointer to it'' he said, adding that ''these are exciting days for us and the current ranking is a testimony to our renewed focus on all fronts''.

HAL, now a Navratna Company, achieved a sales turnover of Rs 7,784 crore (1.82 billion US dollars) during 2006-07 and recorded a growth of 46 per cent over the previous year. The company's profits (PBT) soared to Rs 1,744 crore, a jump of 55 per cent over the last year. The Value of Production had also gone up by 56 per cent at Rs 9,202 crore and the exports registered a growth of 45 per cent at Rs 271 crore.

UNI