BENGALURU: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday projected that the annual Indian defence exports will touch Rs 35,000 crore by 2024 from the current level of Rs 17,000 crore, looking at the capacity of HAL. He was addressing employees and officials of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at their Kannada Naada Habba celebrations here.
Singh said that India will be a (defence) exporter country one day, based on HAL’s strength, as in the long run it cannot depend on imports. He said, today with private defence industry as competitors, defence public sector units like HAL have to partake in competitive bidding. This is a new situation and this environment has to be seen as an opportunity, he added.
He hoped the defence public sector units would take the lead in manufacturing civil aircraft in the country.
“HAL will play an important role in Make In India programme -- it has excelled in operations and operational finance,” he said, Until March 2019, the company’s turnover has been Rs 19,705 crore and it has given the shareholders a healthy dividend of 198 per cent.